Indore entered cricketing folklore as one of the lucky hunting grounds for India when Manish Pandey knocked off the winning runs in the 48th over on Sunday to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match One-day International series. The ruthlessness with which Virat Kohli and Co are going about with his business is resulting in records tumbling like nine pins with each match. Here are some of the key statistics from the match:
India’s domination in Indore
India have an unblemished record at the Holkar Stadium, winning four ODIs and the only Test that was played last year. This also marked India’s ninth consecutive win in the 50-over format. The run started in West Indies. India won each of their five matches against Sri Lanka before getting the better of Australia in Chennai, Kolkata and Indore.
It also happened to be the first time the Men in Blue have won the first three matches of a bilateral ODI series against Australia.
Pandya’s spin love
He picks out his targets and leathers the ball out of the park: It has become an all too familiar tale with Hardik Pandya’s exploits against the slower bowlers. At Chennai, Adam Zampa was the casualty. At Indore, it was the hapless Ashton Agar who bore the brunt of Pandya brute-force as he smashed the left-arm spinners for four sixes en route to his match-winning display during the chase. In all, Pandya has now struck 17 sixes against the spinners.
India’s record
As mentioned earlier, this was India’s ninth win on the trot in ODI cricket, matching their own record from 2008-’09. Australia, on their other hand, crashed to their 11th loss away from home.
Hitman loves the Aussies
Rohit Sharma has taken his tally against the Australians to 1403, the second most by an Indian batsman. He went past former captain MS Dhoni’s tally of 1342 runs but still has some way to go before catching up with Sachin Tendulkar, who sits pretty at the top with 3077 runs against the Aussies. Rohit’s average of 63.77 is the highest in the list of batsmen who have scored more than 100 runs.
Finch hitter
Aaron Finch, with his classy knock of 124, registered his eighth hundred. The Victorian is yet to wear the Baggygreen, though. Meanwhile, Finch moved within one century short of catching up with Ireland captain William Porterfield in the list of batsmen who have never played a Test.
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