Melbourne: Mahendra Singh Dhoni rekindled his love affair with final flourishes, anchoring India to their maiden bilateral ODI series triumph in Australia for a perfect finish to a historic trip Down Under here Friday.
Virat Kohli’s men became the first country to return from Australia without losing a single series having won the Test series 2-1 and drawn the T20 Internationals 1-1. From a dasher, to a finisher to finally the anchor in the last leg of his career, Dhoni 3.0 was in full flow during India’s successful chase of 231 in the third and final ODI on a sluggish Melbourne pitch after Yuzvendra Chahal set it up with a career-best 6 for 42.
“It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, so it was important to take the game deep,” said India skipper Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation. “Two set batsmen there who knew what to do and they got the job done. We’ve been here a long time, it’s been an amazing tour. We drew the T20 series, won the Test series and now the ODIs. If you had given me these results before the tour, I would have gladly taken it,” he added.
Dhoni’s unbeaten 87 off 114 balls was a testimony to his high quality match awareness as the street-smart Kedar Jadhav (61 no, 57 balls) donned the role of a finisher. The former India skipper’s role going into the business end of his illustrious career is that of an anchor, who takes the game deep. He performed his role to perfection with world class exhibition of running between the wickets in what could well be his last match on theAustralian soil.
Not to forget the ‘Man of the Series’ award for a hat-trick of half-centuries and two coming in winning causes. While Dhoni was lucky to be dropped on 0 and 74 but Australian bowling never had the sting to unsettle the Indian batsmen despite skipper Virat Kohli (46) being dismissed with more than 100 runs left. Chasing 231, India got off to a slow start as well. Australia created some good pressure with the new ball, in particular Jhye Richardson (1-41) who tied down Rohit Sharma (9). It worked as the right-handed opener was caught at slip in the sixth over. (PTI)
