Manish Pandey century masterminds India’s thrilling last-over victory over Australia in 5th ODI at SCG
Manish Pandey century masterminds India's thrilling last-over victory over Australia in 5th ODI at SCG
Manish Pandey’s maiden One-Day International (ODI) century in what was only his third innings helped India end Australia’s winning streak and averted 5-0 whitewash in the fifth and final ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Pandey helped India win with just two balls to spare in what was a nerve-wracking finish. It was a win achieved with a bit of luck; dropped catches and mis-hit balls landing safely played a role in India’s victory. The recipe was set for a repeat of the first part of India’s chase at Canberra. Full Cricket Scorecard: India vs Australia 2015-16, 5th ODI at Sydney
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma once again got India off to tremendous start, with the difference being that Dhawan was the aggressor rather than Rohit this time. In an innings reminiscent of his 187 on Test debut, Dhawan smashed the Australian bowling to all parts of the SCG en route to a thrilling 78 off 56 balls. He hit seven fours and three sixes along the way, and added 123 in good time for the opening wicket. Dhawan was dismissed courtesy of an excellent backward-diving catch from Shaun Marsh at deep point off John Hastings. Dhawan’s dismissal was followed soon by that of Virat Kohli, edging Hastings to Matthew Wade for 8 off 11. Full Cricket Blog: India vs Australia 2015-16, 5th ODI at Sydney
That brought in Pandey, playing only his fourth ODI. Looking at him bat, it seemed like he was a veteran of 50. Pandey looked completely unruffled, kept scoring runs at regular intervals, and ran brilliantly between the wickets. He and Rohit put on an excellent 97 for the third wicket, helping India get to within exactly 100 runs of a victory till Rohit was dismissed. Rohit narrowly missed out on scoring his third century of the series, edging to the ‘keeper on 99. Rohit would have been the first Indian batsman to score three centuries in an away series. READ: Manish Pandey seems to be India’s answer to a composed finisher in ODIs
Rohit’s dismissal complicated things for India. MS Dhoni looked completely out of sorts, and was not even able to churn the strike around. He ended up putting immense pressure on Pandey as well. India needed 100 to win off 91 balls when Dhoni came in. That became 40 runs needed off the last four overs. Pandey was batting at a strike rate of well over 100, but Dhoni took far too many balls to get going. James Faulkner and Mitchell Marsh were entrusted with bowling at the death, and both men did a commendable job to keep the runs down initially. However, the 47th over which was bowled by Marsh cost Australia 13 runs. This brought the required runs down to 22 needed off the last two overs. Faulkner bowled a 9-run over, which made it 13 runs needed off the final over — the exact number of runs Marsh conceded in his previous over.
The final over proved to be typically climactic. Dhoni, batting on 28 off 40 balls, was on strike to begin the over. Marsh was clearly feeling the pressure and started off with a wide ball. Now 12 were needed off 6. Marsh bowled a full toss on off, and Dhoni responded by sending it over long off for six. Now six were needed off five. Dhoni tried to send the next ball over the ropes again, but this time picked out David Warner in the deep. Now six were needed off four, with Pandey on strike batting on 98. Gurkeerat Singh was the new man in, but he was at the non-striker’s end. Marsh bowled one on off stump, and Pandey got it down to the third man boundary to get to his maiden ODI century. India now needed two to win off three balls. Pandey finished it off with a brace as India finally beat Australia in Australia after four years. Pandey was unbeaten on 104 off only 81 balls at the end as India won by 6 wickets with just two balls to spare. It was also the only first time anyone had chased over 300 to beat Australia in an ODI in Australia.
Earlier, David Warner’s fifth ODI century and a maiden ton from Mitchell Marsh helped Australia pile on a commanding 330 for 7. India put in perhaps their best bowling performance of the series but were thwarted by two top quality innings from Warner and Marsh respectively. India’s debutant Jasprit Bumrah bowled wonderfully but Umesh Yadav had a nightmarish day in the field. Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja bowled well but Rishi Dhawan and Gurkeerat Singh were expensive. As a result for every good bowler on display for India there was a corresponding poor one, which was fully evidenced by the scorecard. READ: Gurkeerat Singh, Rishi Dhawan to replace Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvneshwar Kumar respectively in India vs Australia T20I series
India got off to an ideal start when Ishant managed to take out Aaron Finch in the first over of the match. Finch hit a straight boundary over Ishant’s head off the fourth ball of the match but was out LBW off the sixth. Replays suggested that Finch was unlucky as the ball would have missed the stumps, but by shouldering arms to one that came in Finch did himself no favours. Having struck early, India looked like a different bowling unit. That Umesh was having an off day was seen in his first spell, where he bowled 4 overs for 28. It was quite economical compared to what followed; Umesh finished with 1 for 82 off 8 overs.
Steven Smith looked a bit out of sorts with a scratchy 28 off 37 balls. He was dismissed mis-hitting a pull shot to Rohit Sharma off Bumrah. The young right-hand pace bowler was by far the most impressive bowler on the day. He bowled at good pace and hurried both Warner and Smith, repeatedly going past the edge. He was accurate and kept the ball in the right areas throughout. It was his persistent line and length that earned him his maiden ODI wicket, that of India’s perpetual thorn in the flesh, Smith. He returned to bowl well at the death too, knocking over the dangerous James Faulkner with a pinpoint yorker. He capped off his international debut with excellent figures of 2 for 40 in 10 overs. READ: In Jasprit Bumrah India may have found a death bowler of some class
George Bailey soon followed his captain to the hut, a leading edge off the innocuous Rishi finding its way to Ishant. Rishi started well but ended up being a bit too expensive, finishing with 1 for 74 off his 10 overs. Jadeja, on the other hand, again went wicketless but was once again economical. His 10 overs cost just 46 runs. Shaun Marsh, playing in place of the injured Glenn Maxwell, ended up getting run out in slightly unlucky fashion. Rishi did not collect Umesh’s throw from the deep cleanly, but the ball went out of his hands and ricocheted off his leg onto the stumps with the older Marsh well short of the crease.
That brought in the younger Marsh, Mitchell. The all-rounder has not been in particularly impressive form in this series, but he went about setting the record straight this time. Marsh showed just why he is so highly rated by the Australian media, getting to a maiden ODI hundred off 81 balls in the final over of the innings. His knock included nine fours and two sixes, and guided Australia to a huge total. India would have hoped to exorcise the demons of Canberra by chasing down the 331-run target set by Australia.
Brief scores:
Australia 330 for 7 in 50 overs (David Warner 122, Mitchell Marsh 102*; Ishant Sharma 2 for 60, Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 40) lost to India 331 for 4 in 49.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 99, Shikhar Dhawan 78, Manish Pandey 104*; John Hastings 3 for 61) by 6 wickets with 2 balls to spare.
Man of the Match: Manish Pandey
Man of the Series: Rohit Sharma
(Shiamak Unwalla, reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)