A century by Usman Khawaja and tight bowling by Australia helped them clinch the fifth One Day International (ODI) on Wednesday by 35 runs and seal the ODI series.
Khawaja’s hundred guided Australia to a total of 272 at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi. The left hander got to 100 off 106 deliveries. He scored 50, 38, 104 and 91 in the previous matches, this made him lead the batting charts among both the teams.
Khawaja and Handscomb built a solid 99 run stand to lay the foundation after the early wicket of Aaron Finch. Khawaja got the second hundred of his ODI career. Australia kept losing wickets at intervals but this didn’t stop them from posting a high total.
In reply India lost quick wickets, they were brought down to 132/6. Kedar Jadhav and Kumar put a 91 run stand for the 7th wicket, however they couldn’t help India reach the target.
Earlier opener Shikhar Dhawan got away early at 12 and Kohli got out cheekily at 20. Rohit Sharma survived till 53, and Sharma became the third fastest player to reach 8,000 runs in ODIs, only behind V Kohli and AB de Villiers.
This was the final India – Australia clash before they meet again in the World Cup starting in England from 30th of May 2019.
Australia now will head to UAE to play Pakistan this month.