Australia v India, 2015-16
Wisden's review of the fourth ODI, Australia v India, 2015-16
15-Apr-2017
At Canberra, January 20, 2016 (day/night). Australia won by 25 runs. Toss: Australia.
The first three matches had all favoured the chasing side and - until the 38th over of the second innings - it appeared the sequence would extend to four. Batting first this time, Australia were again boosted by contributions from all the top five. Warner - who fell in the nineties for the first time in internationals, having notched 20 hundreds - and Finch, who made a run-a-ball 107, put on 187; Smith and Maxwell then accelerated when required. Such was the ferocity of the batting that three fielders and one umpire required treatment after being hit: Kettleborough, struck early by a Finch straight-drive, hobbled off at drinks, to be replaced by Paul Wilson. It prompted their colleague, John Ward, to call for a helmet, having been hospitalised by a blow on the head during a Ranji Trophy match at Natham seven weeks earlier. India responded with two quickfire centuries of their own from Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli (his 25th in ODIs), and needed just 72 from 76 balls, before collapsing spectacularly. Richardson took five wickets for the first time, and in all the last nine tumbled for 46; it was only the second time, after India's defeat by South Africa at Nagpur in the 2011 World Cup, that any team had been bowled out after reaching 250 for one. The injury to Rahane, who suffered split webbing and came in at No. 7, may have unsettled the batting, but it was no excuse for India's implosion.
Man of the Match: K. W. Richardson
The first three matches had all favoured the chasing side and - until the 38th over of the second innings - it appeared the sequence would extend to four. Batting first this time, Australia were again boosted by contributions from all the top five. Warner - who fell in the nineties for the first time in internationals, having notched 20 hundreds - and Finch, who made a run-a-ball 107, put on 187; Smith and Maxwell then accelerated when required. Such was the ferocity of the batting that three fielders and one umpire required treatment after being hit: Kettleborough, struck early by a Finch straight-drive, hobbled off at drinks, to be replaced by Paul Wilson. It prompted their colleague, John Ward, to call for a helmet, having been hospitalised by a blow on the head during a Ranji Trophy match at Natham seven weeks earlier. India responded with two quickfire centuries of their own from Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli (his 25th in ODIs), and needed just 72 from 76 balls, before collapsing spectacularly. Richardson took five wickets for the first time, and in all the last nine tumbled for 46; it was only the second time, after India's defeat by South Africa at Nagpur in the 2011 World Cup, that any team had been bowled out after reaching 250 for one. The injury to Rahane, who suffered split webbing and came in at No. 7, may have unsettled the batting, but it was no excuse for India's implosion.
Man of the Match: K. W. Richardson