The Indian team has a great chance to end their historic tour to Australia on a triumphant note as they lock horns with the hosts in the ODI series decider in Melbourne on Friday. The Indian team has in past had memorable moments in the 50-over format down under but they have been few and far and in multi-nation tournament.
The Champions of Cricket win in 1985 and the CB series win in 2008 are the two sweet memories that India has from their multiple tours to Australia. In all these years India has played a bilateral ODI series only once before, in 2016, which they lost 1-4 and Virat Kohli’s team will look to put the record straight come Friday.
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Since Kohli took up captaincy in the ODI format, India has had a rather good record in bilateral series deciders.
In July 2017, India were leading the ODI series against the Windies 2-1 and the hosts had a chance to draw level in the decider at Kingston in Jamaica. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav restricted the hapless Windies to 205/9 and the total was chased down easily courtesy an unbeaten 111 by Virat Kohli.
In October that year the Kiwis ran India close with the prolific duo of Tom Latham and Ross Taylor giving New Zealand the lead in the series. In the decider at Kanpur, Rohit Sharma (147) and Virat Kohli (113) struck fluent centuries to put the hosts in command with a total of 337 runs. The Kiwis were on target with their chase yet again, only for Jasprit Bumrah to derail them in the death with some superlative bowling.
{{/usCountry}}In October that year the Kiwis ran India close with the prolific duo of Tom Latham and Ross Taylor giving New Zealand the lead in the series. In the decider at Kanpur, Rohit Sharma (147) and Virat Kohli (113) struck fluent centuries to put the hosts in command with a total of 337 runs. The Kiwis were on target with their chase yet again, only for Jasprit Bumrah to derail them in the death with some superlative bowling.
{{/usCountry}}India beat Sri Lanka in the decider at Vizag in December 2017 for another 2-1 scoreline, before losing two straight matches to England in July 2018 to concede the series. That is the only time India has lost the deciding match of an ODI bilateral series under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Joe Root was the star of the show for England.
So, if the team’s past record is kept in mind India has a great chance of winning their first ever bilateral ODI series in Australia.