Usman Khawaja continued his superb form with the bat by scoring yet another 100, as Australia defeated India by 35 runs in the fifth and final one day international at Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi on Wednesday.
The home side dropped Lokesh Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal and brought in Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, while the visitors included Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Lyon for Shaun Marsh and Jason Behrendorff respectively.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Australia’s opening pair of Aaron Finch and Khawaja started magnificently, as the duo added 76 runs for the opening wicket, before Jadeja provided the breakthrough by dismissing Finch for 27.
The 32 year old Khawaja later combined with Peter Handscomb added another 99 runs for the second wicket, before the former fell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was caught at cover by Virat Kohli for a well made century.
Australia lost wickets of the dangerous Glenn Maxwell and Handscomb in succession to a come back 30 year old Jadeja and Shami leaving them in slight trouble at 182 for 4.
Mohali hero Ashton Turner who batted magnificently for his knock of 84, failed to set the stage on fire this time, as he succumbed to Kuldeep Yadav.
The visitors lost their momentum in the final stages, but the pair of Jhye Richardson and Pat Cummins with some lusty hitting pushed the team total to 272 runs in their allotted 50 overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was India’s best bowler as he claimed 3/48, while Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja bagged two wickets each.
Chasing a target of 272, India lost Shikhar Dhawan cheaply to Pat Cummins for 12. The pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had a small stand of 73 runs for the second wicket, before the latter edged a delivery to wicket keeper Alex Carey off Stoinis for 20.
Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa combined together as they claimed wickets of Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar, as the hosts were reeling at 120 for four.
Rohit Sharma who was dropped on 53 by Maxwell, failed to capitalise as he was stumped by Carey off Zampa. Three balls later Ravi Jadeja was dismissed in a similar manner for zero.
The Men in Blue were reduced to 132-6 in 28.5 overs, but Kedar Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar stitched together a 91 run stand giving India a glimmer of hope, but the departure of both of them in consecutive balls ended the home side chances of winning the match and the series.
The Indian innings came to a close as they were dismissed for 237, handing Australia the series 3-2.
Usman Khawaja for his brilliant performance with the bat, was declared the Man of the Match and the Player of the Series.
This was India’s final assignment before the World Cup in England starting May 30, while Australia head to UAE to play Pakistan this month.