Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan’s superb hundred and a disciplined bowling attack helped Team India to a 36-run win over Australia in their second clash of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on Sunday at the Oval.
Dhawan’s love affair with ICC tournaments continued as he scored yet another match winning innings at the big stage. Dhawan’s 117 runs was the highlight of a team batting effort in which everybody played their role to perfection to help India post a convincing 352 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.
In response to India’s total, Australia never really dominated the chase as they managed only 316 runs in their 50 overs despite Steven Smith, David Warner and Alex Carey’s half centuries.
Post a clinical run chase against South Africa in the first match, India posted a mountain of runs against Australia, the burden of which the Aussies couldn’t bear. Add to that, the 21.5 overs of dot deliveries bowled by the Indian bowlers are another indicator of why India is a prime contender to lift this World Cup.
With this, India also broke Australia’s 10 matches unbeaten run which started against India. What worked for India were the partnerships. While Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put on 127 for the opening wicket, their record sixth 100 run partnership in ICC tournaments, Dhawan and Kohli got going after Rohit departed.
In the end, the middle order players played their part in putting India at a powerful position. As far as the bowling is concerned, the openers were cautious against the opening burst of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, but once the change bowlers came in, India put their feet on the accelerator.
For India, Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah picked up three wickets apiece in crucial stages of the game to put the Aussies on the back foot.
India play New Zealand on Thursday, June 13 while Australia meet Pakistan on Wednesday, June 12 in their World Cup campaigns ahead.
Brief Scorecard: India 353/5 (Shikhar Dhawan 117; Virat Kohli 82; Marcus Stoinis 2/62) Australia 316/10 (Steven Smith 69;David Warner 56; Bhuveneshwar Kumar 3/50; Jasprit Bumrah 3/61)