Jaipur, Oct 17: An inspired India tonight pulled off an incredible nine-wicket victory over Australia in the second cricket one-dayer, achieving the second highest ever run chase in ODI history in what turned out to be a high scoring contest.
Chasing an mammoth victory target of 360 on a belter of a track at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, India crossed the line with a 40 balls to spare as records tumbled like nine pins. This is also India's highest ever successful run chase as the hosts restored parity 1-1 in the seven-match series.
Rohit Sharma (141 not out), Virat Kohli (100 not out) and Shikhar Dhawan (95) were the main contributors for India.
Virat Kohli (100 not out) took a more than decent Australian attack to the task with a fastest ever ODI century by an Indian and seventh fastest in the world, scored in only 52 balls. This is his 16th ODI century in 115 matches. His innings had eight fours and seven sixes.
Rohit Sharma (141 not out from 123 balls) got a well-deserved third ODI century while Shikhar Dhawan (95) again showed love for anything Australian but was unlucky to miss out on a ton.
It was a match where the Australians created a world record with their five top batsmen scoring half-centuries but the Indian batsmen proved they were better on the night.
The Australians now have the ignominy of ending second best in two highest run-chases having faced similar fate against Herschelle Gibbs' South Africa seven years back, when they failed to defend a mammoth score of 434.
Indian batting's 'Gen-Next' troika showed why they are not afraid of any target and reasserted India's supremacy in the 50-over format.
While bowling continues to be a worrying factor for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he should at least feel happy that Kohli along with Rohit and Shikhar are ready to take the legacy of Indian batting forward in the next decade.
The victory was built on two partnerships. An opening stand of 174 between Dhawan and Rohit followed by another 186 runs scored in only 17.2 overs between Rohit and Kohli. The duo put on 100 runs in only 62 balls.
The chase practically started in the ninth over when Dhawan, in his bid to break the shackles, hit Shane Watson for three successive boundaries.
In the next over from Clint McKay, Rohit got a couple of boundaries more as 26 runs came off these two overs. While Dhawan repeatedly charged out to the pacers piercing the off-side cordon, Rohit used field restrictions to good effect by lofting the deliveries over in-field.
Rohit hit Glenn Maxwell for a six over deep mid-wicket to bring up the team's 100 and then got his half century with a tickle down leg-side off Xavier Doherty.
If Dhawan muscled the deliveries, Rohit found a way to caress them to the boundary.
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