Dhawan’s 117 ensures India beat Australia by 36 runs
ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, The Oval, London 14 of 48
India Vs Australia
India 352-5 (50 ov) Shikhar Dhawan 117 off 109, 16 fours, Virat Kohli 82 off 77, 4 fours, 2 sixes, Rohit Sharma 57 off 70, 3 fours, 1 six,
H Pandya 48 off 27, 4 fours , 3 sixes, Stoinis 2-62, Coulter-Nile 1-63, Starc 1-74, Cummins 1-55.
Australia 316 (50 ov) Smith 69 off 70, 5 fours, 1 six, Warner 56 off 84, 5 fours, Carney 55* off 35, 5 fours, 1 six, Khawaja 42 off 39, 4fours, 1 six, Kumar 3-50, Burmrah 3-61, Chahal 2-62
India won the toss and decided to bat.
India win by 36 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan’s 117, Virat Kohli’s 82 and a quick fire entertaining 48 by Hardik Pandha ensured India posted 352-5 at The Oval.
Australia, facing a World Cup record chase, struggled to accelerate despite Steve smith’s 69as David Warner took 84 balls to make his 56.
Alex Carey hit a 25-ball 50, but was not enough to stop Australia sliding to their first defeat of the tournament.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed Adam Zampa with the last ball of the match to finish 3-50 and Jasprit Bumrah took 3-61.
Australia face Pakistan at Taunton on Wednesday, while India who have won their first two games play top of the table New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
Indian openers played carefully against the pace of Cummins and Mitchell Starc but after Rohit was give a life on two, dropped at square leg by a leaping Nathan Coulter-Nile – they cut free.
Dhawan soon after knocked three fours for Coulter-Nile’s first over, and when Zampa’s leg-spin was introduced Rohit thrashed his first ball for four. And eventually both reached 50, sharing a 127-run partnership, before Rohit was caught behind trying to guide Coulter-Nile over the keeper.
Dhawan brought up his hundred after an overthrow. Pandya was dropped first ball by a diving Carey, but slog-swept Zampa and Maxwell for sixes before slapping Cummins through backward point.
Australia’s opening partnership of Finch and Warner was worth 61 before Finch was run out by a fine throw from Kuldeep Yadav at deep point having been called through by his partner. Warner his five fours against Indian spinners and was eventually dismissed caught at deep mid-wicket off spinner Yuzendra Chahal. Maxwell tried to accelerate by hitting first ball of Bumrah for four and hit Kumar for back-to-back boundaries in the next over.
When Smith also accelerated Australia had a chance to win the match, But fall of quick wickets of Smith and Stoionis fell in the space of two Kumar deliveries. Maxwell was also caught in the deep trying to force the rate and once Coulter-Nile who fresh from his 92 off 60 against West Indies on Thursday was caught at deep mid-wicket, the crowd found their voice again.
Indian captain Virat Kohli said “ A top, top win for us – especially after losing the series against Australia in India. We had a point to beat this side. They are playing really good cricket in the two games.
Australian captain Aaron Finch said “They got 120 runs off the last 10 overs which is a lot. We didn’t bowl our best stuff and struggled to get wickets early on., which was the key. We could have been bit straighter. You want to get wickets early as they bat very deep. It was just one of those games- they just outplayed us.”