Following Khawaja’s vital contribution, Handscomb’s maiden century and Ashton Turner’s late blitz ensured that Australia chased down a record breaking score of 359 to level the series 2-2.
None would have expected the visitors to script such a comeback into the series after the 2nd ODI. While the Aussies returned to their winning ways in Ranchi, the Mohali ODI which was a do or die clash saw them produce one of their best performances in recent times.
It was expected that the flat wicket in Mohali would produce a high scoring thriller. But none expected that it would be so intense. After India managed to post a mammoth 358/9, powered by a century from Dhawan, many had their hopes pinned on the hosts to come out as victors.
But the kind of batting display the men from down under produced drew appreciations from even the opponents. Finch and Marsh fell early in the chase to leave them struggling at 12-2. Here is when the pair of Khawaja and Handscomb joined hands to steady the sinking ship.
Both players saw out the pacers and then they started picking runs off Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Their partnership started to bloom as they crossed the 100 run mark with both securing their respective half centuries.
Just when the duo threatened to take the game away from India, Bumrah returned to remove Khawaja, setting him up beautifully to play the pull shot and making him fall in the trap. The partnership finally concluded on 192 with Khawaja falling short by 9 runs in a bid to score his second century of the series.
Handscomb then combined with Maxwell to continue the onslaught. Maxwell who began explosively could not carry on and was eventually dismissed for 23. Handscomb went on to complete his maiden century and soon after that was caught out by Rahul in attempting to take on Chahal.
At this stage, the Aussies needed 88 runs in the remaining 9 overs. With new batters Carey and Tuner at the crease, it looked as though the visitors might just fall short of the target. But Turner went on to stun the crowd as he produced one of the best innings of his career to take Australia home.
He took on both Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and hammered them out of the park. His scored 84* runs in just 43 deliveries including a whooping 5 fours and 6 sixes. This innings saw Australia reach home with still 13 balls to spare.
Earlier, Kohli won the toss and decided that he would be the first to test the flat wicket that was in the offering. With failures in recent times, both Dhawan and Rohit Sharma needed to spend some valuable time together in the middle to regain their lost form.
They did just that as the duo stitched a mammoth 193 run stand for the first wicket. Rohit Sharma’s hug to greet Dhawan after the latter had reached his century showed how much the knock meant to both.
Capitalising on this strong start, the incoming batsmen of Rahul, Shankar and Pant each contributed to power India over the 300 run mark. Dhawan did not give up following his century and made his knock count, taking on the Aussie attack to post his personal best score off 143 in ODIs.
Despite a huge score being posted by India, Cummins continued with his wicket taking spree as he went on to claim a 5 wicket haul.
With this win, Australia square the series with a game left. The series decider is to played at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Wednesday.
BREIF SCORES: Australia 359 for 6 (Handscomb 117, Khawaja 91, Turner 84*, Bumrah 3-63) beat India 358 for 9 (Dhawan 143, Rohit 95, Cummins 5-70) by 4 wickets.
Also Read:
BCCI officials reject invitation to attend PSL final in Pakistan
