In a record chase for Australia, Ashton Turner punished the Indian bowlers to level the series in the fourth of five One Day Internationals on Sunday.
Virat Kohli elected to bat first, considering the flat track in Mohali, and his batters did not disappoint. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan played masterfully to score 193 runs in the first 31 overs before the former was dismissed on 95. Though Sharma missed out on a well deserved hundred, Dhawan went on to complete his century and added another 44 runs to the tally before being bowled over by Pat Cummins in the 37th over.
Once Kohli was caught behind at 7, Cummins restrained the Indian batsmen and picked up another four wickets. Despite his five-fer, India managed to post an intimidating target of 359. The second innings could not have begun any worse for Australia, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar knocked down skipper Aaron Finch’s stumps for a duck in the very first over.
After Jasprit Bumrah sent Shaun Marsh packing at 6 in the fourth over, the visitors were reeling at 12/2 and another triumphant series to Kohli’s name seemed inevitable. But, Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb batted brilliantly to steady the ship and put on a stand of 192 runs for the third wicket. Once the partnership was broken in the 34th over, Glenn Maxwell stepped in to smash 23 runs off 12 balls only to be trapped LBW by Kuldeep Yadav.
When Handscomb departed in the 42nd over, the match was still firmly in India’s favour with Australia needing another 88 runs to win. Turner walked in at No.6 and led a belligerent onslaught scoring 84 runs from just 43 deliveries to complete the highest Australian chase of all time. With the series tied 2-2, Kohli will be weary of his renewed opponents in the deciding match at Delhi on Wednesday.
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