Australia lost a thrilling ODI against India in Nagpur on Tuesday night, despite some late hitting from Marcus Stoinis.
The tourists entered the last over needing 11 runs to win off Vijay Shankar but the part-time seamer held his nerve to dismiss Stoinis (52 from 65 balls) and Adam Zampa (2).
It was a fighting effort from Australia on a slow, low, turning wicket which suited the hosts far more than the visitors.
Tasked with chasing 251, the Aussies stayed in the game thanks to Stoinis and Peter Handscomb (48 from 59 balls).
Handscomb batted wonderfully before some scratchy batting by his partner seemed to pressure him into a mistake. Stoinis was stuck deep in the mud, crawling to 11 from 28 balls, as the required run rate ballooned and forced Handscomb to change tack.
While Handscomb built his innings on protecting his wicket and piercing the gaps, Stoinis’ inability to score meant Handscomb had to start taking risks, which contributed to his run out.
Handscomb had shown his teammates how to handle the pitch. Wary of the low bounce, he made a point of playing with a straight bat to any deliveries on the stumps, even those that pitched short of a length. The only time he unfurled cross-bat strokes was the rare wide delivery he could glide behind point or, most commonly, when he swept the spinners.
It was a lack of respect for the minimal bounce which earlier caused the downfall of Glenn Maxwell (4 from 18 balls) as he tried to pull a short ball from wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, only for the delivery to skid through incredibly low.
Australia had been flying at 0-83 from 14.2 overs when India were brought back into the match by two loose shots.
First, Aaron Finch (37 from 53 balls) premeditated a sweep shot and was caught LBW to Yadav. Finch had looked scratchy, but was helped by some unusually loose bowling by India.
The very next over, Khawaja – who had looked in supreme nick – played a lazy drive at an innocuous delivery from off-spinner Kedhar Jadhav and spooned the ball to cover. India suddenly looked energised.
Usman Khawaja (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
Earlier, Australia produced a disciplined bowling display and were thwarted only by a remarkable century from Indian superstar Virat Kohli. On a tricky pitch against some fine bowling, the skipper cruised. The ease with which the 30-year-old churns out centuries in one-day cricket is astonishing – his 116 from 120 was his 40th ODI ton, leaving him behind only legendary Indian Sachin Tendulkar.
When Tendulkar retired with 50 career ODI centuries it seemed like an insurmountable record, some 20 tons clear of the next best, Australian Ricky Ponting.
Yet, at the current rate Kohli notches tons, he should break that record within about two years or so. If he plays until the age of 37 years old, which is entirely possible given his immense skill and amazing fitness, he may end up with as many as 70 hundreds.
That’s pure speculation of course. What is inarguable, however, is that Kohli is the best ODI batsman on the planet. He showed that again on Tuesday, he played the conditions perfectly, recognising that it was a tough pitch and so reducing the risk from his game and concentrating instead on piercing gaps and running hard.
Only 34 per cent of his runs came in boundaries, an extremely low number in this era, when so many batsmen score in clumps.
That low boundary rate was also an indication of how well Australia bowled.
Pat Cummins bowled quicker than he has in quite some time, consistently sitting in the 141-144kmh bracket and topping out at 148kmh. More importantly, he operated with precision and guile. His first wicket appeared to be a setup as he used a wide delivery to tempt Rohit Sharma, who obliged by feeding a catch to third man.
Pat Cummins celebrates the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
He continued to bowl cleverly before, late in the innings, removing both Kohli and the dangerous Ravi Jadeja with changes of pace.
Cummins’ 4-29 from nine overs was the second-best return of his ODI career and was a welcome haul given the way he has struggled in this format over the past two years. Australia will hope he can now build on this effort and take some generous momentum into the World Cup in June.
Cummins wasn’t a one-man band, though, with Adam Zampa (2-62 from 10 overs), Nathan Lyon (1-42 from 10 overs) and Glenn Maxwell (1-45 from 10 overs) all playing important roles with the ball.
While Zampa was a tad expensive, he put the brakes on the Indian innings by dismissing in successive deliveries the in-form pair of Kedhar Jadhav and MS Dhoni.
Lyon should get further opportunities in this series, having mixed up his flight and pace. Maxwell, meanwhile, highlighted once more why he is a hugely underutilised bowler by getting the big wicket of Shikhar Dhawan and then completing a neat ten overs.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah (2-29) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-54) were the difference.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
There's much for you to learn. Stick with it.
Rob
Guest
There are several IPL players ranked well above Shaun. He wouldn't rank in the top 50. Stoinis has only played India, England SA and NZ in his career averaging 44runs SR.94 whilst Shaun Marsh is averaging 40runs SR.81 and played Scotland, Bangladesh that have boasted his numbers.
dat
Roar Rookie
I already stated sobers was better, a few times.But just as you mentioned about having to look at player avg by avoiding weak teams in the time periods.India pakistan and nz were all pretty weak most of the time(especially away) as well before the emergence of the 4 great all rounders. They may have 1 or 2 pretty good players in their team, but overall they weren’t very comparable with teams like eng,windies or australia in the early 50’s or 40’s or before.
dat
Roar Rookie
I meant the first 93 tests,which was the same number of matches, sobers played in,he avg 1 solid point over sobers at that time,though i only brought up that because you were rating alot of other ahead of him purely based on overall avg at the end of career,particularly sangakaara, which was the reason i felt i should add my take on the matter. Which wasn't fair considering, sachin had played more matches than anyone else, and could have/should have retired from tests after the 2011 wc win as no one is still close to the 14700 test runs he had scored till, then in tests.Rather he played for another year and half and avg 33 in tests(a rather shaun marsh like number) which brought his numbers avg down quite a bit. So to those, who ends up, looking at the avg at the end of a players career, his would be below someone like sanga and kallis even though he was better than both.I personally felt him and lara stood apart in that era from anyone else,with ponting,kallis,sanga next up and other like waugh dravid etc also close by(purely considering kallis the batsman cause as a total package arguably no one has been better in the last 30 years) .
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
If you say he was 7-9 Dat, I’d agree with you, in fact maybe even top 6 despite what I said about averages! But I don’t think you can compare the average in the same number of matches as sobers played - is it his first 90 Tests, the middle 90 or the last 90? The best way to compare for me is to take a batsman’s best ten years and look at their averages against the good teams only (eg no Zimbabwes, Bangladeshes or Windies at the moment, no Sri Lanka before 1990) and give a heavier weight for away matches. I’m sure Tendulkar would be right up there on those stats, but maybe not quite with Sobers.
dat
Roar Rookie
‘Spoken like a true indian?’ Were Bradman,Viv,Crowe,Benaud,Hadlee,Hanif Mohammad all Indians? Cause, they rate him higher than i do,despite having played in those past eras. If all i wanted to do was go on about superior avg, i would have brought up his avg of 58.7 in the same number of matches as sobers played(while the other avg was already better than huttons). The numbers i did bring up however was from his ‘peak’,no doubt,but the thing you failed to realize was, that peak lasted nearly 21 years, which is more than the careers of almost anyone you mentioned, while also scoring over 1000 runs than anyone else in most test runs list. I wasn’t, the one who tried to make a comparison between cook and bradman ,to discredit tendulkar’s numbers,so maybe reconsider your stance on what i am trying to prove? Sanga’s peak, was great no question about that, but it also coincided with the retirement of all time greats(he avg 25 vs aussies when warne and mcgrath was still playing).The only truly legendary bowler of his peak was steyn and he avg 35 in south africa at that time..He also never had to play guys like ambrose,walsh and all but didn’t have great numbers in the Caribbean.He played about 78-79% of his matches in asia(while not having to face the 4 greatest bowlers from the continent,one of whom was his country man) though he didn’t do well in india.Tendulkar even with the steep decline in the last one and half years had about 6 points better avg than sanga in SENA countries. As others pointed out above,and as how most experts view it,Sanga was probably marginally lesser than Ponting let alone tendular and lara. For me ,there is no doubt those two are top 10 batters. Bradman,Sobers, Viv are set for me with probably Hobbes and pollock next up but i would put tendulkar and lara somewhere between 7-9 most likely.
dat
Roar Rookie
I don't think i ever stated that bowlers from 50's and all were poor,else sobers wont be as high up obviously. I did state that 80-90's and early 2000's probably have a better balanced pace and spin greats and variations developed would be obviously more and maybe pace as well. But before the 50's and all the umpiring standards in terms of lbw given per matches and lack of variation in conditions all would play a factor as well.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
I am a big fan of Sachin, but i think we should always be careful while comparing between the greats. Sachin came into the scene in the late 1980's at a time India (and South Asia as a whole) was passing through a transition. There was welcome economic stability with more and more people entering the mid-income zone. but the biggest change was in the media sector with the satellite channels entering our houses. the fast growing media needed a hero; a superhero if possible; and no one filled the role better than Sachin. while no one can doubt his greatness; i find some of the things like describing him as the greatest cricketer ever or even comparing him with God quite ridiculous. if you tell me to list the three greatest cricketers over the two decades after Viv; i would go for Kallis, Sangakara and Sachin in that order.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Spoken like a true Indian?, though good of you to agree he is 2nd best after Viv in recent years. There were as many world class bowlers around in the 50s through the 70s. Eg In the 50s, Bedser, Tyson, Truman, Statham, Laker, Lock, Wardle, Lindwall, Miller, Johnston, Davidson, Benaud, Adcock, Heine, Tayfield, Ramadhin, Valentine, Fazal Mahmood. And in the 30s and 40s if there weren’t as many great bowlers because there weren’t as many countries playing, you just played them on average more often. Sangakka averaged 60 in Australia and New Zealand, 40 in England. The fact that he averaged 67 when not a keeper only boosts his case for greatness, not diminish it. True, not as consistent as Tendulkar in every country. You have picked out Tendulkar’s best years selectively for averages and he still comes up short of Sobers, Weekes, Pollock, Hutton and others. Of course, he’s in the same league, but superior? Having seen Sobers and Pollock and knowing the history, I would rate him a bit lower.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
That's because he has only being picked again now. He was inexplicably left out for a long time despite always succeeding. He is one of the most successful IPL players, by the way, to justify peer comparison. Shaun stands comfortably in that company in both white ball forms.
Rob
Guest
Okay we’all agree to disagree agree about Shaun. Comparing him to Tendulkar and Kalis is a bit insulting to those boys I feel. Did you realise Shaun is not rated in the top 10 ODI batsmen in world cricket over the last 2 years or ever for that matter. Stoinis has a better average and strike rate in ODI’s than Shaun Marsh and I’m afraid to say he’s our all rounder. Sorry Don that’s just the truth.
anon
Roar Pro
How many years have you been wrong about Fremantle and the Marsh boys now, champ? You talk like you're the one that's been proven right over and over. I have. Every year. Right, right, right.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
A strange combative last sentence (twice).
bowledover
Roar Rookie
this. unfortunately, its true. Finch didnt look fluent and the bowling flattered him.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Don, I clearly listed GC in my 10 and always will. I still consider him Aus second best bat ever.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Not really, they’re both all rounders with responsibility for closing out games with the bat (until Stoinis’ elevation to first drop the other day). But as I said, I didn’t expect you to see anything there or consider it.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Which batsman has a distinct record of playing well against a moving ball?
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Totally agree Mr The Bush. Compared against their peers.
Ouch
Roar Rookie
Winning by default? Let's not reduce Oz cricket any further. Langer is just going to have to eat his own foot and select Maxwell.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
DCNZ, do you mean it is a ‘fact’ Warne said they could win. Or a fact they ‘can’ win? Lol