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The Invincibles

MELBOURNE:MS Dhoni anchored India to their maiden bilateral ODI series triumph in Australia for a perfect finish to a historic trip Down Under here today.

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Melbourne, January 18

MS Dhoni anchored India to their maiden bilateral ODI series triumph in Australia for a perfect finish to a historic trip Down Under here today. The Virat Kohli-led team is the first ever to return from Australia without losing a single series, winning the preceding Test series 2-1 and drawing the T20 Internationals 1-1.

From a dasher to a finisher, and finally an anchor in the last leg of his career, Dhoni 3.0 was in full flow during India’s successful chase of 230 in the third and final ODI on a sluggish Melbourne pitch after Yuzvendra Chahal set it up with a career-best 6/42.

“It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, so it was important to take the game deep,” said India skipper Virat Kohli.  “Two set batsmen who knew what to do 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. 

Match awareness 

Dhoni’s unbeaten 87 off 114 balls was a testimony to his high-quality match awareness as the street-smart Kedar Jadhav (61* off 57 balls) donned the role of a finisher. While Dhoni was lucky to be dropped on 0 and 74, the Australian bowling didn’t appear to have the sting to unsettle the Indian batsmen.

Chasing 231, India got off to a slow start. Australia created some pressure with the new ball. It worked as Rohit Sharma was caught at slip in the sixth over. Despite Kohli coming to the crease, India struggled in the first powerplay and scored just 26/1 in the first 10 overs. Kohli added 44 runs with Shikhar Dhawan (23) for the second wicket, but the runs came in a trickle. And when Dhawan fell, Kohli and Dhoni added 54 runs off 82 balls in an uncharacteristically sluggish partnership. Kohli’s fall, with India still needing over 100 runs, sounded alarm bells but Dhoni and Jadhav stood firm and stitched together an undefeated 121-run partnership to take India home in the last over.

Earlier, Chahal picked up 6/42 as Australia were bowled out for 230 runs. — PTI

Virat says

Amazing tour for us 

It’s been an amazing tour for us. We drew the T20 series, won the Test and the ODI series. We are feeling confident and balanced as a side with the World Cup in mind

MS most committed to Indian cricket 

Many things happen on the outside. People say a lot of things but as an individual we know that there is no one more committed to Indian cricket than Dhoni and people should let him have his space because he has contributed so much for the nation. 

No. 5 ideal for Dhoni 

Dhoni batted at No. 4 in 2016 for a while. But after that he has been pretty happy playing at five and six. We felt No. 5 was the ideal position for him. And if you saw him bat at Adelaide, he was pretty comfortable in that position because that allows him to do a bit of both — get some game time as well as finish games off

I’m ready to bat at any position: Dhoni

I am happy to bat at any number. The important thing is where the team needs me. Whether I play at 4 or 6, we need to see if the team balance can be retained. I’m happy to bat lower down at 6. I can’t say I can’t bat at No. 6 after playing 14 years.

Enjoyed bowling here: Chahal

I enjoyed bowling for the first time in Australia. The ball was spinning a little bit, so I planned to bowl slow and vary my pace. Looking forward to the New Zealand series.

Scoreboard

Australia

A Carey c Kohli b Bhuvneshwar 5

A Finch lbw Bhuvneshwar Kumar 14

U Khawaja c&b Chahal 34

S Marsh st Dhoni b Chahal 39

P Handscomb lbw Chahal 58

M Stoinis c Rohit b Chahal 10

G Maxwell c Bhuvneshwar b Shami 26

J Richardson c Jadhav b Chahal 16

A Zampa c Shankar b Chahal 8

P Siddle not out 10

B Stanlake b Shami 0

Extras: (LB-2, W-8) 10

Total: (All out, 48.4 overs) 230

FoW: 1-8, 2-27, 3-100, 4-101, 5-123, 6-161, 7-206, 8-219, 9-228

Bowling

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 8-1-28-2
Mohammed Shami 9.4-0-47-2
Vijay Shankar 6-0-23-0
Kedar Jadhav 6-0-35-0
Ravindra Jadeja 9-0-53-0
Yuzvendra Chahal 10-0-42-6

India

R Sharma c Marsh b Siddle 9

S Dhawan c&b Stoinis 23

V Kohli c Carey b Richardson 46

MS Dhoni not out 87

K Jadhav not out 61

Extras: (LB-1, W-7) 8

Total: (3 wickets, 49.2 overs) 234

FoW: 1-15, 2-59, 3-113

Bowling
Jhye Richardson 10-1-27-1
Peter Siddle 9-1-56-1
Billy Stanlake 10-0-49-0
Glenn Maxwell 1-0-7-0
Adam Zampa 10-0-34-0
Marcus Stoinis 9.2-0-60-1

Man of the Match: Yuzvendra Chahal
Man of the Series: MS Dhoni

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