The last one day series before the cricket World Cup got over, but all we have are plenty of questions and few answers! All had seemed pretty rosy in the beginning, more so after the Indian team had beaten Australia on their soil. But alas, now the Australian team has paid back in a similar vein. Who would have thought that a very much depleted Australian side will beat India in India and without the services of Starc, Hazlewood, Smith and Warner? But they did - first winning the T20 series 2-0 and then the ODI series 3-2 after having lost the first two games to India.
The Australian team had been pushed to their very limit in this series several times, but they found heroes every single time. But one thing I can say with certainty now, that the Indian batsmen are no longer great players of spin. This has happened far too often now. So much to think about for India. Their quota of games is now over heading into the World Cup, while Australia have five more matches to look at their team combination, now that they will head to the UAE where they will take on Pakistan.
India's middle order issues persist. Who will bat at No. 4, is still not certain. The team management has tried so many players in the slot - Rayudu, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni, Rishab Pant and Vijay Shankar. Almost all of them have been given enough number of chances but no one has cemented the slot as yet. Plenty of questions remain with very few answers. Under Kohli-Shastri era, only Kohli and Rohit are the two batsman who can be sure of their place in playing XI, and that has been the problem with this side. They have tried many players over the course of past few months and played with their confidence by continuous chopping and changing. It was not very long ago when Kohli had said that Rayudu is a sure starter at no 4, but Rayudu's place remain uncertain.
Australia on the other hand, have healthy batting headaches to manage, especially when Smith and Warner return. Australia won the T20Is 2-0, and now they came back from 0-2 down to win the ODI series 3-2. This is Australia's first ODI series win in India since 2009. What a win, what a performance. This will give them so much of confidence ahead of the World Cup. Only four times in ODI history has a team come back from 0-2 down to win a five-match series. Australia are the fifth side to do so and that is no mean an achievement!
