India registered only their fourth win in World Cups against Australia after downing the reigning champions by 36 runs on Sunday at The Oval. Unlike recent editions, Virat Kohli and Co outclassed Australia in all departments.
A slew of records were broken along the way. Shikhar Dhawan continues to take centrestage in International Cricket Council events. After missing out against South Africa, the left-handed opener found every pocket of The Oval, cutting, pulling and driving with authority. Australia were in good run of form coming into this game, and the Men in Blue halted them in their tracks.
Despite not getting a century, Rohit Sharma continues to make a habit of getting to milestones and he now has over 2000 One-day International runs against the Australians. Here is an overview of all the statistics you need to know from India’s second consecutive win in the 2019 edition.
- With both teams comfortably crossing over 300 runs, it is no secret that the batsmen had a feast, especially the top order.
- As mentioned earlier, Rohit Sharma joined an elite group of cricketers. He continues to be imperious while facing off against the Aussies. And he took only 37 innings to get to the 2000-run mark, the fastest to do so.
- Nathan Coulter-Nile had a forgettable outing after steering his side to a win against West Indies. The pacer, however, continues to be a thorn in Rohit Sharma’s flesh.
- India captain Kohli continues to reach new landmarks. He registered his 50th ODI fifty on Sunday. Kohli has 41 hundreds to his name in the format.
- India bucked a trend after scoring over 300 against Australia. They comfortably crossed it, scoring 352. With flat wickets on offer in England, there should be more such scores.
- A statistic that might interest Indian fans: The winner of this fixture in the last four editions went on to win the World Cup. In 1983 and ‘87, India and Australia won a match each. India, agonisingly, ended up on the losing side in 1992.
- Mitchell Starc was strangely off-colour in the game. He now has the most expensive figures for an Australian in a World Cup match.
- Australia have always had a happy time chasing targets. Indian bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, brought them crashing back to earth.
- Ban? Boos from the crowd? Scoreboard pressure? It doesn’t matter for Steve Smith, who has fifty-plus scores in the last seven of his eight World Cup innings.
- David Warner came into the World Cup with a lot of promise. But his runs have come at a snail’s pacer and it is unusual by his standards.