Ashton Turner cracked an unbeaten 84 as Australia stunned India by 4 wickets in the fourth one day international to level the series 2-2 at Chandigarh on Sunday.
The home side brought in Lokesh Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal in place of Ambati Rayudu, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, while the visitors dropped Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Lyon and included Turner and left-arm bowler Jason Behrendorff respectively.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, India’s opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan finally returned to form as the duo added 193 runs for the opening stand, before the former fell for 95 to Jhye Richardson.
Lokesh Rahul who was promoted at No 3, was involved in a 61 run stand with Dhawan, before Pat Cummins broke through by claiming the wicket of the 33 year old left handed batsman for a well compiled 143. His knock comprised of 18 fours and 3 sixes.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli had a rare failure as he was dismissed for 7. Rahul batted cautiously in his innings of 26, before being caught by Alex Carey off Adam Zampa.
Handy cameos at the end from Pant and Vijay Shankar helped India pile up a massive score of 358 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Pat Cummins was Australia’s best bowler as he bagged 5/70, while Richardson claimed 3 wickets.
Chasing a mammoth total of 359, the visitors suffered an early jolt as they lost skipper Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh early to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah respectively.
Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb added 192 runs for the 3rd wicket, with the latter reaching his maiden ODI century off 92 balls.
Bumrah in the 34th over provided a vital breakthrough by claiming the important wicket of Khawaja who was caught brilliantly by Kuldeep Yadav for a well made 91.
Glenn Maxwell looked good in his innings of 23, before being dismissed leg before wicket off Kuldeep. Turner and Handscomb batted solidly by putting on 42 runs for the fifth wicket, before the returning Chahal got the prize scalp of the 27 year old Handscomb for a brilliant 117.
At that stage, the required rate was still hovering around the 10 mark, but Turner turned the game on its head with a fantastic display of controlled hitting. He had a life on 38, when Pant missed a relatively easy stumping, and was also dropped twice later in his innings. The Scorchers star showcased why he was so highly rated in the BBL by smashing the Indian bowlers to all parts of the park. He was particularly severe on Bhuvi and even produced an ABD-esque ramp shot for six against Bumrah!
Turner and Carey added 86 runs for the 6th wicket, before the latter fell for 21. The wicket came too late for Team India, as the Aussies comfortably reached the target with 13 balls to spare.
Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he bagged 3 wickets for 63 runs, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up a wicket each.
Turner’s fantastic knock earned him the Man of the Match and saw Australia continue their good record at Mohali.
The fifth and the final one day international will be played at Delhi on Wednesday.