Sydney, 23 January - Riding on splendid centuries from opener David Warner (122) and Mitchell Marsh (102 not out), Australia posted a mammoth 330/7 in 50 overs against a fragile Indian bowling line-up in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) at the Sydney Cricket Ground here on Saturday.
En route his fifth ODI ton, Warner smashed three sixes and nine boundaries in his 133-ball knock. The 29-year-old hard-hitting batsman was well supported in the other end by all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who scored his maiden ODI ton and hit two sixes and nine boundaries in his 84-ball knock.
The Indian bowlers failed to learn from the mistakes they made in the last four ODIs and got hammered throughout the innings.
Debutant Jasprit Bumrah (2-40) impressed in his first international outing alongside Ishant Sharma (2-60).
Put into bat by India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the hosts were in the back foot in the very first over as Ishant got in-form opener Aaron Finch leg-before-wicket in the sixth ball to leave Australia at 6/1.
Incoming batsman and skipper Steve Smith (28) gave good company to Warner but his stay in the crease did not last too long. Bumrah’s short delivery on off was misjudged by Finch, only to have him caught at midwicket by Rohit Sharma. Australia were 64/2 in 11.5 overs.
From there on, the visitors bowled some tight spells and were lucky enough to have another in-form batsman George Bailey (6) and Shaun Marsh (7) back in the pavilion inside the 22nd over to have Australia in a spot of bother at 117/4.
Warner on the other hand, kept piling on runs even though he kept losing teammates in the other end.
With four wickets down and 25 overs to go in the innings, the home side needed someone to stick around along with Warner and Mitchell turned out to be the saviour.
The 24-year-old not only sneaked in ones and twos but managed to put pressure on Indian bowlers with some handy boundaries.
The duo piled on a 118-run partnership for the fifth wicket to help the team’s score get close to 250-run mark.
Warner trying to up the scoring rate fell in the 39th over, but the damage was done by then. Matthew Wade (36 off 27) too smashed the ball in his short lived innings.