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Australian captain Aaron Finch made a welcome return to form last night, while Usman Khawaja cracked his first ODI ton as the tourists beat India in the third ODI in Ranchi.
Yet another ODI century from Indian megastar Virat Kohli (123 from 95 balls) kept India on target to chase down Australia’s total of 313, but the visiting bowlers held their nerve to close out the game.
Finch had entered this match in the deepest form trough of his international career, having averaged just 11 with the bat from his 17 white ball matches for Australia since the end of his debut Test series in October.
This situation was particularly tricky for Australia due to his status as captain and the paucity of alternative leadership options. Australian coach Justin Langer had repeatedly shown public support for Finch over the past two months, backing him to regain touch.
Finch last night repaid that faith, to an extent, by compiling a well-paced 93. This innings, of course, does not guarantee Finch will suddenly return to his best, but beyond the number of runs he scored there were some great signs.
The first difference I noticed in Finch’s batting last night was his balance. The Victorian has been hugely troubled by straight deliveries in recent months because of the way he has been overbalancing, with his head falling towards the off side.
Finch’s nemesis during this period has been Jasprit Bumrah. The superstar Indian quick has flummoxed Finch with his unusual angle back in to right handers. Last night, from his second ball against Bumrah, Finch unfurled what may be his signature shot – the back foot punch through cover.
In his pomp, Finch pastes the ball through the covers in this manner the moment bowlers give him the slightest room.
The true indication of just how well Finch is in form, however, is his straight driving. When you see Finch’s head still and over the ball before he sends it rushing back past the bowler you know he is in sync. Inside his first half hour at the crease the 32-year-old played a couple of beautiful straight drives off both Bumrah and Indian quick Mohammed Shami.
Then came on the other Indian bowler who so often befuddles Finch – left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Finch promptly cracked Kuldeep for two fours from his first five deliveries. From there Finch found a fine rhythm and constructed a 193-run opening stand with Khawaja (104 from 113 balls).
The left hander, who looked supreme before gifting his wicket in the second ODI, once more timed the ball beautifully. Khawaja played the quicks with confidence and was assertive against spin, using his reverse sweep to frustrate left arm spinner Ravi Jadeja. Khawaja was dropped early in his innings while playing that same shot but went on to make the most of this chance.
Usman Khawaja cobbled together a century. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
With 192 runs at 64 so far in this series he is Australia’s highest runscorer, and is building a strong case for inclusion in their World Cup squad. When Finch was finally dismissed, Australia made the bold and wise move of promoting Glenn Maxwell.
The dynamic all-rounder was running amok on 47 from 31 balls when he was run out by a magic piece of teamwork from gun fieldsman Jadeja and slick wicketkeeper MS Dhoni.
When Kuldeep then dismissed Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb in the space of three balls Australia had lost 4/24. While Maxwell was cutting loose a total of even 380 had looked possible, but Australia had to make do with 5/313. On a great batting pitch and a fast outfield, that total looked very gettable for an outstanding and vastly-experienced Indian batting line-up.
But India’s task quickly became far more challenging as their top order was rattled by Australia for the third consecutive game. In the first ODI Australia reduced India to 4/99, in the second match they had them 3/75, and then yesterday it was 3/27.
Whereas in the first two ODIs Australia could not capitalise on these strong positions, yesterday they finished the job. Opening bowlers Pat Cummins (3/37) and Jhye Richardson (3/37) were outstanding, applying huge pressure with the new ball.
Then, leg spinner Adam Zampa underlined his natural wicket taking ability by claiming three huge scalps – Kohli, MS Dhoni and Kedhar Jadhav. Zampa’s dismissal of Kohli, bowled with a wrong ‘un, all but killed off India’s challenge.
This victory continued an impressive limited overs tour of India so far for Australia, who have a 3-2 win-loss record.