Kohli and Raina bat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 to victory over Australia
India have inflicted more pain on Australia on the subcontinent, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 making a career-high ODI score of 118 and Suresh Raina a quickfire 71 not out as the home side chased down a 290-run target and claimed a five-wicket victory with seven balls to spare in Vishakhapatnam.
After being sent in to bat, Australia, still smarting from their 2-0 Test series loss to their hosts, started poorly as Shaun Marsh soaked up 11 balls before an inside edge off an http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293 delivery sent the ball crashing into his stumps to remove him for a duck.
Opening partner Tim Paine fared little better. While the wicketkeeper-batsman’s ability to grind out middle-order runs in whites is fast becoming apparent in the four Tests he’s played so far, opening proceedings today Paine was unable to build a platform for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746’s innings, providing Vinay Kumar with an easy catch and Nehra with his second wicket as he departed for nine.
With Australia falling to 2-16, India may have been confident of applying the blowtorch to their under-pressure opponents, but skipper Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 and Michael Hussey combined to frustrate the hosts in what was effectively their first ODI match of the series (Sunday’s scheduled series opener having abandoned due to rain).
Neither had produced close to their best in the Test series, today they slowly but surely set about building the 144-run partnership - finally broken when Hussey was trapped lbw by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ravichandran-Ashwin-c84208 for 69 from 78 balls - that would be the cornerstone of Australia’s innings.
Enter Cameron White for an unbeaten 49-ball 89 to drag Australia’s run-rate out of the doldrums and to a very respectable 5.58 by the end of the innings, with three of his six sixes coming in the 23-run final over bowled by the hapless Vinay Kumar, who had been carted for 17 in his previous over, the 46th of the match.
Indeed, the big-hitting Victorian was responsible for the bulk of the 84 runs the visitors piled on in the final five overs, but after bringing up the fifth ODI ton of his career in a measured innings even Clarke cut loose in the closing overs, sweeping Nehra over midwicket for his first six of the innings.
Clarke finally finished unbeaten on 111 after delivering a true captain’s knock when his side most needed it, with White ensuring that foundation was put to good use as Australia finished the innings on 289-3.
India’s chase began in uninspiring fashion, with debutant http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shikhar-Dhawan-c90019 removed for a duck from just the second ball of the innings; Clint McKay finding the gap between bat and pad to take out the batsman’s off-stump.
It was McKay who took the second wicket too, catching the edge of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murali-Vijay-c78035’s bat with Paine doing the rest behind the stumps to dismiss the opener for 15.
Once again though the third-wicket partnership would prove pivotal to the innings, and this time it was Kohli and Yuvraj Singh who teamed up for a century-plus stand as Australia’s inexperienced bowling attack, including debutants Mitchell Starc and John Hastings, struggled to make the breakthrough.
McKay’s re-introduction into the attack and seven straight dot balls for Yuvraj eventually combined to hand the Aussies their third wicket, with a slower delivery from the 27-year-old finding its way onto Yuvraj’s stumps to dismiss him for 58.
A cramping Kohli may have called on Dhawan’s services as a runner has he sought, and ultimately reached, a third career ODI century but new batsman Raina immediately set about ensuring India wouldn’t be limping across the finish line, sending three consecutive James Hopes deliveries to the boundary for four in the 38th over, and then producing back-to-back fours from the same bowler at the end of the 40th over.
With India appearing to have taken control of the match, Australia debutant John Hastings provided a late twist in the tale, with Kohli picking out the fielder at long-on to hand the paceman his maiden ODI wicket and end an 84-run partnership and four balls later removing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028’s off-stump, the India skipper departing for a duck.
Raina though knew the ending he wanted and set about achieving it, bring up his half-century and soon after pulling a Hastings delivery for his first six of the innings, though it was another of the day’s ODI debutants in Saurabh Tiwary who hit the winning runs with seven balls to spare.
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