Australia went retro for this series and the scores also took us back down the memory lane. The 300-run mark was never breached across the three games, but every match was fought hard and went deep. Kohli is a happy and proud captain having not lost a series on the entire tour and MSD wins the Man of the Series award without actually winning a Man of the Match award. Teams are focusing mainly on the World Cup, which is about five months away from now. India have ten more games to try and test themselves out, while Australia have five more. The hosts will play Sri Lanka next for a Test series, while the visitors will travel down South-East to take on New Zealand, who themselves are playing an attractive brand of cricket.
This game was set up mainly by Chahal. His double-strike in the very first over hurt Australia badly and the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Handscomb held one end tight to ensure they got a decent total on the board. India lost Rohit early in the chase and then a set Dhawan later. Kohli looked in control alongside MSD, but the pressure of a few dots at the other end probably got to him and he edged Australia's best bowler to the keeper. Kedar Jadhav walked in, showed great support, listened to MSD's instructions, which is why he didn't try and attack early. An unbeaten 121-run stand gives India their first ever bilateral ODI series win in Australia.
India's successful run-chases without any of top three scoring 50+ (since Apr 2015)
127 v Zimbabwe, Harare, 2016
223 v Bangladesh, Dubai, 2018
231 v Australia, MCG, 2019
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