Of course, quality of bats have improved dramatically in past decade, batsmen are far more fearless these days with evolution of Twenty20, grounds are going shorter and ICC has changed rules against poor bowlers but another factor that has always contributed to high scoring but we're only now discovering about is the altitude (height from sea level) at which cricket grounds are situated. Higher the altitude, less is the atmospheric pressure and balls pierce through lot easily. Result? more sixes. For example, Wanderers in Johannesburg is at an altitude over 5000 feet and we witnessed that 438 ODI between South Africa and Australia back in 2006 when 26 sixes were hit. Today at Bangalore which is over 3000 feet above seal level, we had record breaking 38 sixes, 19 each from India and Australia, giving us a deserving series decider between no.1 and no.2. 57 runs was the difference between two teams after 709 runs were scored and numerous records shattered..Australia in India 2013, India won series 3-2.
1st ODI : Australia won by 72 runs | 2nd ODI : India won by 9 wkts | 3rd ODI : Australia won by 4 wkts | 4th ODI : Rain, no result | 5th ODI : Rain, no result | 6th ODI : India won by 6 wkts.
There were several major innings and little cameos in this 7th ODI, all from batsmen, but none more effective than Rohit Sharma's double century, the only third of the format. James Faulkner kept visitors in hunt till late single handly, scoring the fastest century by an Australian batsman but lack of support from other end shut his ambitious down. here's how the story unfolded in this memorable game.
Dew factor had been so dominant in this series that both captains wanted to bowl first in this decider. George Bailey guessed the right side of the coin and MS Dhoni had to send his openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma to lay down the platform. they did so admirably, raising their 6th century stand almost chancelessly. Dhawan was once again the dominator in 112 runs stand and then Sharma was guilty of calling in-form Virat Kohli for a suicidal run. Suresh Raina added 72 good runs with his but was trapped in front of wicket by Xavier Doherty and then Yuvraj Singh edged one to wicket keeper. At 207 for 4 in the 34th over, Sharma was forced to rebuild the inning with Dhoni but who would've guessed what was to follow. The pair added 167 runs off which 101 came of only last five overs. Rohit Sharma smashed no less than 16 sixes, leaving Aussie bowlers clueless, pushing total to something extra-ordinary.
Aussies were off to a terrible start, losing first 4 wickets for just 74 runs without much of an run-rate but Brad Haddin had kept scoreboard tickling and then Glenn Maxwell smashed 17 ball half century, the second fastest in the format ever. This counter-attack gave first ray of hope before he and Adam Voges got out 6 runs apart. Once again, counter attack continued in form of Shane Watson who was forced to bat way down the order after he suffered hamstring injury while bowling and hadn't fielded for an hour and half. Watson, after hitting six sixes, was unlucky to get out as ball bounced off wicket keeper Dhoni's thighs and all looked over but James Faulkner wasn't going no where.
With Clint McKay, Faulkner raised miraculous century stand and completed one for himself as well. Indians were just started to panic when Ravindra Jadeja made the breakthough and sealed the match.
Stats facts
**Rohit Sharma's 209 is now second highest ODI score and only 3rd double hundred in the format. Sachin Tendulkar was first to the milestone, scoring 200* against South Africa while Virender Sehwag holds the record with his 219 against West Indies.
**Glenn Maxwell scored the second fastest ODI fifty, off 18 balls, joint fastest by an Australian with Simon O'Donnell.
**Most sixes in an inning by a batsman was 15 by Shane Watson untill Rohit Sharma hit 16 today. Most sixes in an ODI was 31 between India and New Zealand back in 2010 but today we had 38 of them.
**James Faulkner scored the fastest Aussie century, off 57 balls, overtaking 66 ball knock by Mathew Hayden back in 2007 World cup.
**R Vinay Kumar was hit for 101 runs in his 9 over which now is the most expensive spell by an Indian in ODI, overtaking 87 runs that Javagal Srinath once conceded.
**Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan put together their 6th century opening stand. Only Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly (21) and Sachin Tendulkar with Virender Sehwag (12) are ahead of them now.
| India inning (invited in to bat) | ||||||
| Batsman | R | B | 4s | 6s | ||
| Rohit Sharma | c Henriques (sub) b McKay | 209 | 158 | 12 | 16 | |
| Shikhar Dhawan | lbw b Doherty | 60 | 57 | 8 | 0 | |
| Virat Kohli | run out (Coulter-Nile) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Suresh Raina | lbw b Doherty | 28 | 30 | 2 | 0 | |
| Yuvraj Singh | c Haddin b Faulkner | 12 | 14 | 0 | 1 | |
| MS Dhoni | run out (Henriques) | 62 | 38 | 7 | 2 | |
| Ravindra Jadeja | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| R Ashwin | ||||||
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | ||||||
| R Vinay Kumar | ||||||
| Mohammad Shami | ||||||
| Extra : | 12 (lbyes=5, wides=7) | |||||
| Total : | 383 runs in 50 overs for 6 wicket. RR = ( 7.66 ). | |||||
| Fall of wickets : 1-112 (Dhawan, 18.6 ov), 2-113 (Kohli, 19.5 ov), 3-185 (Raina, 29.3 ov), 4-207 (Yuvraj, 33.5 ov), 5-374 (Sharma, 49.3 ov), 6-383 (Dhoni, 49.6 ov) | ||||||
| Bowler | Overs | Maiden | Runs | W | Extra |
| Clint McKay | 10 | 0 | 89 | 1 | 2 wides |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile | 10 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 2 wides |
| James Faulkner | 10 | 0 | 75 | 1 | 1 wide |
| Shane Watson | 5 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| Xavier Doherty | 10 | 0 | 74 | 2 | |
| Glenn Maxwell | 4 | 0 | 32 | 0 | |
| Aaron Finch | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Australia inning (target = 384 runs from 50 overs) | ||||||
| Batsman | R | B | 4s | 6s | ||
| Aaron Finch | lbw b Shami | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| Phil Hughes | c Yuvraj b Ashwin | 23 | 33 | 2 | 0 | |
| Brad Haddin | b Ashwin | 40 | 49 | 7 | 0 | |
| George Bailey | run out (Yuvraj + Dhoni) | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| Adam Voges | b Shami | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |
| Glenn Maxwell | c Jadeja b Vinay Kumar | 60 | 22 | 3 | 7 | |
| James Faulkner | c Dhawan b Shami | 116 | 73 | 11 | 6 | |
| Shane Watson | c Shami b Jadeja | 49 | 22 | 2 | 6 | |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile | c Kohli b Jadeja | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Clint McKay | b Jadeja | 18 | 37 | 3 | 0 | |
| Xavier Doherty | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Extra : | 4 (lbye=1, wides=2, noball=1) | |||||
| Total : | 326 runs in 45.1 overs for 10 wicket. RR = ( 7.23 ). | |||||
| Fall of wickets : 1-7 (Finch, 1.2 ov), 2-64 (Hughes, 12.1 ov), 3-70 (Bailey, 15.2 ov), 4-74 (Haddin, 16.5 ov), 5-132 (Voges, 21.6 ov), 6-138 (Maxwell, 22.2 ov), 7-205 (Watson, 28.2 ov), 8-211 (Coulter-Nile, 30.1 ov), 9-326 (McKay, 44.6 ov), 10-326 (Faulkner, 45.1 ov) | ||||||
| Bowler | Overs | Maiden | Runs | W | Extra |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 8 | 1 | 47 | 0 | |
| Mohammad Shami | 8.1 | 0 | 52 | 3 | |
| R Vinay Kumar | 9 | 0 | 102 | 1 | 1 no ball |
| R Ashwin | 10 | 0 | 51 | 2 | 2 wides |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 10 | 0 | 73 | 3 |
