Why India-Aus series was sensational!

Rajneesh Gupta breaks down all the facts and figures from the recent India vs Australia ODI series.

India registered a comprehensive 4-1 win over Australia in the recent five-match ODI series. The victory margin was not only India’s best in a bilateral series against Australia, but also the best for a subcontinental side against Australia. It was also Australia’s fifth worst defeat in a bilateral series.

The first match at Chennai was also the first time that Virat Kohli was leading India against Australia. He registered a duck as India got off to a horrific start, losing the first three wickets with only 11 runs on the board. But the useful contributions from the lower order -- that saw India’s number six and seven (Dhoni and Pandya) scoring 50s together for only the second time in an ODI against Australia -- took them to a respectable total of 281 for seven. India’s total was the third highest total by any side after losing first three wickets for 11 runs or less.

India’s worst starts at home

(lowest total at the fall of third wicket)

Score	Vs	Venue	Year	Total	Result
5	South Africa	Hyderabad	2005	249/9	Lost
11	Australia	Chennai	2017	281/7	Won
12	West Indies	Faridabad	1994	177	Lost
12	Australia	Vadodara	2007	148	Lost
13	Australia	Hyderabad	2007	243	Lost

Highest totals by teams after losing first 3 wickets for 11 or less

Total	From	For	Vs	Venue	Year
368/5	10/3	Aus	SL	Sydney	2006
292/7	6/3	Pak	Zim	Multan	2004
281/7	11/3	Ind	Aus	Chennai	2017
280/7	4/3	Ind	Aus	Adelaide	2004
266/8	6/3	Ind	Zim	Tunbridge Wells	1983

In the second ODI at Kolkata, India successfully defended 252, dismissing Australia for 202. It was after 24 matches that both India and Australia were all out in an ODI. The last such instance was at Mohali in November 2009.

The match was a memorable one for Kuldeep Yadav. In his eighth over Kuldeep got Matthew Wade bowled, trapped Ashton Agar lbw off the next ball and then had Pat Cummins caught by Dhoni, thus becoming only the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs. Interestingly, two of these hat-tricks have come at Kolkata.

Kuldeep had also taken a hat-trick in an under-19 World Cup match against Scotland in 2014. Kuldeep is the first Indian and only the fourth bowler to take a hat-trick in both under-19 cricket and senior cricket. 

Another interesting fact about Kuldeep’s hat-trick is that in the first 46 years of one-day internationals, no wrist spinner had managed to take a hat-trick. In 2017 alone, wrist-spinners claimed two hat-tricks, the other being Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga who claimed a hat-trick against Zimbabwe on debut.

Hat-tricks by Indian bowlers in ODIs

Bowler	Vs	Venue	Year
Chetan Sharma	New Zealand	Nagpur	1987
Kapil Dev	Sri Lanka	Kolkata	1991
Kuldeep Yadav	Australia	Kolkata	2017

Bowler	Vs	Year	Format
Kapil Dev	Sri Lanka	1991	ODI
Harbhajan Singh	Australia	2001	Test
Kuldeep Yadav	Australia	2017	ODI

Hat-tricks in U19 cricket and in Senior cricket

Damien Fleming	U19 Tests	Test cricket
Abdul Razaaq	U19 Tests	Test cricket
Jermaine Lawson	U19 Tests	Test cricket
Kuldeep Yadav	U19 ODIs	ODIs

The win at Indore gave India an unbeatable lead in the series. This was also the first time India beat Australia in three consecutive matches of a bilateral series. The win also gave India their fourth consecutive win against Australia. This has happened only once before -- between 1996 and 1998.

By winning the match, India also became the number one side in the ICC ODI rankings. With the number one slot in Test rankings already with them, this was the first time India has held top slots in both Test and ODI rankings at the same time.

By winning his ninth match on the trot, Virat Kohli also became the third Indian captain to do so in this format. With this win, India also equalled their longest winning streak in ODIs. They had also won nine on the trot between 2008 and 2009 under Dhoni (when Dravid won nine on the trot, it came in consecutive matches for him, but not for India).

India’s longest winning streaks in ODIs

Matches	Period	Captain
9	2008-2009	MS Dhoni
9	2017	Virat Kohli
8	1985	Sunil Gavaskar (5) / Kapil Dev (3)
8	2003	Sourav Ganguly
8	2013	Virat Kohli

The win at Indore gave India their sixth consecutive win in a bilateral series, which equalled their existing record. They had won six bilateral series on the trot under Dravid in 2006-07 and 2007; and also under Dhoni between 2007-08 and 2009.

India in last six bilateral series

beat Zim 3-0 in Zimbabwe	2016	MS Dhoni
beat NZ 3-2 in India	2016-17	MS Dhoni
beat Eng 2-1 in India	2016-17	Virat Kohli
beat WI 3-1 in West Indies	2017	Virat Kohli
beat SL 5-0 in Sri Lanka	2017	Virat Kohli
beat Aus 4-1 in India	2017-18	Virat Kohli

Holkar Cricket Stadium now holds a unique record. This is the only stadium where India have won their first five ODIs. There have been four grounds where India have won their first four ODIs -- Sharjah, Delhi, Mirpur and Visakhapatnam.

Australia finally managed to win one at Bengaluru. Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Aaron Finch and David Warner gave Australia a scintillating start by putting on 231 runs for the first wicket -- the second highest opening partnership by any side against India.

David Warner -- playing his 100th ODI -- scored a hundred, becoming the first Australian and eighth batsman to score a hundred in his 100th match.

Highest opening partnerships vs India in ODIs

Runs	Openers	For	Venue	Year
235	Gary Kirsten - Herschelle Gibbs	SA	Kochi	2000
231	Aaron Finch - David Warner	Aus	Bengaluru	2017
224	Mohammad Hafeez - Nasir Jamshed	Pak	Mirpur	2012
213	Upul Tharanga - Mahela Jayawardene	SL	Kingston	2013
212	Geoff Marsh - David Boon	Aus	Jaipur	1986
200*	Stuart Williams - S Chanderpaul	WI	Bridgetown	1997

Who's scored a hundred in 100th ODI

Runs	Batsman	For	Vs	Venue	Year
102*	Gordon Greenidge	WI	Pak	Sharjah	1988
115	Chris Cairns	NZ	Ind	Christchurch	1999
129	Mohammad Yousuf	Pak	SL	Sharjah	2002
101	Kumar Sangakkara	SL	Aus	Colombo (RPS)	2004
132*	Chris Gayle	WI	Eng	Lord's	2004
100*	Marcus Trescothick	Eng	Ban	The Oval	2005
115*	Ramnaresh Sarwan	WI	Ind	Basseterre	2006
124	David Warner	Aus	Ind	Bengaluru	2017

Note: Sourav Ganguly made 97 in his 100th ODI.

Umesh Yadav went for some runs, but he also picked up four wickets in the Bengaluru match. His dismissal of Steve Smith gave him his 100th wicket in ODIs, making him the 18th Indian to accomplish this feat. By taking 71 matches, Umesh became the sixth fastest Indian to reach this landmark.

Virat Kohli -- during his brief stay at the wicket in Bengaluru -- completed his 2000 runs as captain in ODIs. He is the 31st to do so -- and the sixth from India, after Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni.
 
Taking just 36 innings, Virat is the quickest to reach this milestone.

Least innings to 2000 runs in ODIs as captain

Inns	Captain	For
36	Virat Kohli	Ind
41	AB de Villiers	SA
47	Michael Clarke	Aus
48	MS Dhoni	Ind
48	Eoin Morgan	Eng
49	Inzamam-ul-Haq	Pak
49	Sourav Ganguly	Ind
50	Viv Richards	WI

Note: Virat was also the quickest to the 1,000-run mark as captain in ODIs, with only 17 innings

In the fourth ODI at Bengaluru, Hardik Pandya completed the all-round double of 500 runs and 25 wickets. By taking just 25 matches, Hardik became the quickest Indian to reach this milestone, wresting the record from Kapil Dev.

Quickest to 500-runs & 25 wickets for India in ODIs

Player	Mts
Hardik Pandya	25
Kapil Dev	27
Mohinder Amarnath	29
Robin Singh	30
Ravindra Jadeja	31
Ravi Shastri	33
Roger Binny	35

India restricted Australia to a below-par 242 for nine in the fifth and final match at Nagpur. Any hopes of Australia making a match out of it on a difficult track was soon put to rest as the duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma added 124 for the first wicket -- their third consecutive century partnership. They thus became the first pair to put on 100-partnership in India’s three consecutive matches. 

Two other pairs -- Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan; and Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane -- have also put on three consecutive century partnerships, but they came in three consecutive matches in which two batsmen batted together and not in three consecutive games for India. For example, after putting on 123 runs against Australia at Sydney in January 2916, these two did not bat together again till ICC Champions Trophy in June 2017.

Similarly, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane put on 122 runs against South Africa in October 2015 (Rahane batted in the middle-order in that game), but then these two did not come together again till the series against West Indies in June 2017, where these two opened the innings.

The performance of the Ajinkya-Rohit pair is, therefore, special and deserves more credit.

Three consecutive century partnerships by an Indian pair in ODIs

Pair	Wicket	Runs	Opponent	Venue	Year
Rohit - Shikhar	1st	123	Australia	Sydney	2016
	1st	136	Pakistan	Birmingham	2017
	1st	138	Sri Lanka	Oval	2017
Shikhar- Ajinkya	3rd	112	South Africa	Mumbai	2015
	1st	132	West Indies	Port-of-Spain	2017
	1st	114	West Indies	Port-of-Spain	2017
Ajinkya - Rohit	1st	139	Australia	Indore	2017
	1st	106	Australia	Bengaluru	2017
	1st	124	Australia	Nagpur	2017

Even after India lost Rahane, Rohit continued his blistering form. He finally fell after scoring 125 off 109 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes -- the first century by an Indian batsman in the series. 

Rohit also achieved some personal milestones during the game 

On 8 – Rohit completed 2,000 runs in ODIs in India, becoming the quickest to do so, beating Sourav Ganguly (45) and Virat Kohli (46).

On 59- Rohit completed 4,000 runs in ODIs as an opener, becoming the fifth Indian after Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sehwag and K Srikkanth to do so.

On 92 – Rohit completed 6,000 runs in ODIs, becoming the ninth Indian to do so. By taking 162 innings he also became the third quickest among Indians after Virat Kohli (136) and Sourav Ganguly (147).

India won the match with 43 balls to spare, which took them back to the number one position in the ICC ODI rankings.

The defeat for Australia is one of their worst ever in a bilateral series.

Australia’s worst losses in a bilateral ODI series

Margin	Opponent	Venue	Season
5-0	South Africa	South Africa	2016-17
4-0	England	England	2012
4-1	West Indies	West Indies	1994-95
4-1	South Africa	Australia	2008-09
4-1	India	India	2017-18

The last time Virat Kohli failed to score a hundred in a bilateral series was against Bangladesh in 2015. Since then, he had scored at least a hundred in six consecutive series, before failing to score one against Australia.

Virat Kohli’s last 8 ODI series

Vs	In	Year	Mts	Runs	Hs	Avg	100s	50s
Aus	Ind	2017-18	5	180	92	36.00	0	1
SL	SL	2017	5	330	131	110.00	2	1
WI	WI	2017	5	244	111*	81.33	1	1
Eng	Ind	2016-17	3	185	122	61.67	1	1
NZ	Ind	2016-17	5	358	154*	119.33	1	2
Aus	Aus	2015-16	5	381	117	76.20	2	2
SA	Ind	2015-16	5	245	138	49.00	1	1
Ban	Ban	2015	3	49	25	16.33	0	0

At the end of the ODI series, Rohit has hit 58 sixes against Australia, which are the most any batsman has hit against that country. Only Shahid Afridi has hit a six off fewer balls than Rohit in this list, but Rohit has the best sixes per innings figure.

Most 6s in ODIs vs Australia 

	6s	Inns	Balls/ Six	6s/Inns
Rohit Sharma (Ind)	58	28	28.10	2.07
Eoin Morgan (Ire / Eng)	39	42	44.15	0.93
Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)	35	70	103.74	0.50
Brendon McCullum (NZ)	33	45	37.45	0.73
Shahid Afridi (Pak)	28	44	22.68	0.64
MS Dhoni (Ind)	27	41	61.44	0.66
Kieron Pollard (WI)	27	20	25.67	1.35

Rohit’s 58 sixes against Australia are also the most by an Indian batsman against a particular country, beating MS Dhoni’s 42 against Sri Lanka. No one is anywhere near Rohit in sixes’ frequency.

Most 6s by Indian batsmen vs a particular country

	Vs	6s	Inns	Balls/ Six	6s/Inns
Rohit Sharma	Aus	58	28	28.10	2.07
MS Dhoni	SL	42	51	60.79	0.82
Sachin Tendulkar	Aus	35	70	103.74	0.50
MS Dhoni	Eng	33	41	48.55	0.80
Sourav Ganguly	SA	31	29	55.32	1.07
Sachin Tendulkar	SL	30	80	118.53	0.38
Yuvraj Singh	Eng	29	36	51.69	0.81
Sachin Tendulkar	Pak	29	67	99.55	0.43

This was the eighth bilateral series between India and Australia in India and only the second without rain playing spoilsport. In six out of previous seven series between the two sides at least one game was be washed off / abandoned midway. The only other series that saw all the matches producing a result was in 2000-01.

India-Australia bilateral ODI series in India

	Mts	India won	Aus won	No Result	Abandoned
1984-85	5	0	3	2	0
1986-87	6	3	2	1	0
2000-01	5	2	3	0	0
2007-08	7	2	4	1	0
2009-10	7	2	4	0	1
2010-11	3	1	0	0	2
2013-14	7	2	2	1	1
2017-18	5	4	1	0	0

No result: matches where game started but was interrupted by rain and could not be completed.

Abandoned: matches where not even a single ball could be bowled.