Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first on a true surface in Mohali. It was the perfect opportunity for Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to shrug off their poor run in the recent past and the openers made full use of the opportunity.
Dhawan got going with a clip off his pads through square leg but Rohit was more measured in his approach as they put on 50 runs in almost no time. They became the first Indian opening pair to score 1000 runs against Australia in ODIs once they strung a 62-run partnership. This was also their fifty-run partnership after six innings.
After getting his eye in, Rohit pressed on and together they pulverised the Australian bowling attack and along the way, they notched up plenty of records.
The Rohit-Dhawan show captivates Mohali
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan now have the most century partnerships against Australia -- they have 5 such stands which is the most by any pair all across the world. Also, they became the first Indian opening pair to score 1000 runs against Australia. The West Indian pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes is the only other opening pair to score 1000 runs against Australia.
Kissing their poor run of form goodbye, Rohit and Dhawan now have the joint fifth most century stands among all pairs in ODI cricket. Along with Dhawan-Rohit, Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes and Mahela Jayawardene-Kumar Sangakkara have also shared 15 hundred-plus stands.
For Dhawan, it was a welcome return to form which was decorated with a number of pleasing strokes along the way as he drove, pulled and swept his way to his 16th ODI century. It was his first century after 17 ODI innings -- his last hundred came against Pakistan in the Asia Cup last year. Also, he went past 10,000 List A runs during this innings.
Rohit Sharma was watchful as Dhawan cruised along at the other end but soon found his groove and raced along to his own half-century. During this innings, Rohit became the leading six-hitter in ODIs for India. He galloped past MS Dhoni to achieve this feat. Although he missed out on his 100, he became the 9th Indian to complete 3,000 ODI runs in India.
India finished with 358/9 in their allotted 50 overs, a total which would be require some chasing by the Australian batting order.
