Warner's ton and brilliant bowling effort in already-surrendered series help Australia pull off 21-run win over India in Bangalore
David Warner made his 100th ODI memorable with a typical hard-hitting ton that powered Australia to a formidable 334 in the fourth match of the one-day international series that the Indians led 3-0 before this game. Making optimum use of his good friend Steve Smith's good fortune with the toss, Warner and his partner Aaron Finch put on a record 231 for the opening wicket, which in the end proved the real difference between victory and yet another defeat.
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Australia skipper Steve Smith comes up with a brilliant stop at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/AFP
Openers Rohit, Rahane sparkle
The 21-run win didn't come about easily though as the Indians led by their own opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane made a real fight of it in front of nearly 25,000 fans who braved the threat of thunderstorms to egg their team on. First Rohit and Rahane and then the trio of Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey kept the hosts in the hunt. The finishing kick didn't happen though and some credit for that must go to the Australian fast bowlers led by Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile, who kept the pressure on right through. The rains stayed away for most part, except for 19 minutes that were lost during the Indian chase, but the runs didn't. The three changes that Virat Kohli rung in, all in the bowling department, too helped. Umesh Yadav and Mohd Shami erred in length in their opening spells and played right into the hands of Warner (124, 119b, 12x4, 4x6) and Finch (94, 96b, 10x4, 3x6).
There was no chance of lateral movement, no swing available even if the game started under murky conditions and there was hardly any spin to be had, at least in the first innings. So it was a question of taking the pace off the ball and trying to put the onus on the batsmen to force the issue, which Yadav did later to pick up four wickets.
Length issue
The Indians didn't do that initially and paid the price. And while bowling short on any surface is a sin, on this one it was a cardinal one. The ball just stood up to be hit and Warner and Finch are not the type to let such opportunities go. They have also played enough on Indian tracks to know that that they could plonk the foot forward and heave the ball away.
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