Australia hits 348-8 in 4th ODI vs

The star batsman said that despite lagging 4-0 in the current ODI series, the Indian team’s morale is still up.

“As Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli kept building their partnership, our plan was always that a wicket or two might really change the complexion of the match but getting that breakthrough was proving to be pretty tough”. He surpassed the feat of Sachin Tendulkar who achieved it in 1998 in 234 innings.

But the pair departed in quick succession during a collapse that saw India lose their last nine wickets for just 46 runs, Kane Richardson claiming his maiden ODI five-wicket haul, to be dismissed for 323. John Hastings and James Faulkner are the highest wicket taker with 5 wickets each in 2 matches and 3 matches respectively. Rohit has been in superb form in this series and was on song here as well, plundering 41 runs off 25 balls with two boundaries and three sixes.

Richardson then came along and finished what was started by Hastings by taking out Kohli over the course of four wickets. Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade produced a superb diving effort to give the hosts the breakthrough.

It may look like that Maxwell is trying to rile up the Indian batsmen but statistics show that the Australian all-rounder’s assertion has some merit to it and the Indian think-tank need to pay heed to his words.

Captain MS Dhoni went for a duck, and was quickly followed by Kohli and Gurkeerat Singh (5).

Speaking to Cricket Australia Maxwell said: “I was asked to give a bit of an assessment of who was dominating with the bat in this series, and I said “I don’t think anyone in the world is hitting the ball better than Virat at the moment”.

From this point Warner was in complete command while Finch rode happily in his slipstream, their union only broken when the vice-captain took a big swing at Ishant and dragged on, for 93.

Warner, in particular, looked like he had never been away and smacked three fours in the fourth over bowled by Kumar and then handed out the same treatment to Yadav an over later.

Australia’s assault began through Warner, one of two Australian inclusions alongside Nathan Lyon, with Shaun Marsh and Scott Boland sitting out.

Warner – returning after the birth of his second child – and the similarly aggressive Finch had earlier set the ideal platform, after the latter had struck Richard Kettleborough on the shin with a straight drive that forced the umpire to later be replaced. He fell off the final ball of the innings, Manish Pandey showing he was a good fielding substitute for Rahane by diving to his left at square-leg to pull off a great catch.

“We have seen it with the batsmen too”.

Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell on Thursday reignited the debate about the milestone-driven mentality of Indian batsman.

Skipper Smith blasted 51 from just 29 deliveries, including four fours and three sixes, while Maxwell contributed a 20-ball 41.