India vs Australia 2017, 5th ODI: 5 reasons why India won at Nagpur
The India-Australia ODI series ended with the hosts comprehensively winning the final ODI at Nagpur by seven wickets to seal the series 4-1, the same margin by which Australia had beaten India in an ODI series last year. This win also marked India’s 8th consecutive series win over Australia at home.
Australia batted first and got off to a swift start thanks to Aaron Finch and David Warner but some brilliant bowling by Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah (during his second spell), and Kedar Jadhav resulted in the downfall of their key batsmen, restricting the visitors to 242/9.
In reply, India were cruising from the very beginning as Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane put up their third consecutive 100+ partnership of the series. Following Rahane’s dismissal, Rohit Sharma continued to smash the opposition bowling, going on to reach his century.
By the time Sharma was dismissed, India were in cruise control and chased down the target with 43 balls to spare. Sharma was adjudged the Man of the Match and Hardik Pandya was deservedly adjudged the Player of the Series due to his consistent performances with both bat and ball.
Let’s take a look at five reasons why India were able to end the series on a high at Nagpur.
#5. Kedar Jadhav’s spell
It came as a surprise to many when Hardik Pandya was not given the ball in the 14th over, especially after having taken the wicket of Aaron Finch in his previous over. Instead, he was replaced by Kedar Jadhav.
Jadhav bowled economically in his first three overs, conceding only 11 runs. During his fourth over, Jadhav bowled a low, flat delivery at Steve Smith who could not position himself quickly enough to play the pull shot. The ball hit his pad right in front of the middle stump and he was gone.
While Jadhav conceded 13 runs off his final over, he still ended with 1/48 from his 10 overs.