Australian opener Usman Khawaja has been in tremendous form in the ongoing ODI series against India. He is the main reason behind Australia’s emphatic comeback after losing the first two ODIs. The left hand batsman is the leading run-scorer in the series with two tons to his name.
He surpassed AB de Villiers’ record of scoring most runs against Men in Blue in a five-match ODI series. Khawaja accumulated 383 runs while De Villiers scored 358 runs in 2015. His tally is also the highest against India in a bilateral five-match ODI series across the globe.
Khawaja went past Kane Williamson, who scored 361 runs in 2014.
No player has now scored more runs in a five-match bilateral ODI series against India in India than Usman Khawaja. Khawaja has now gone past AB de Villiers’ record of scoring 358 runs which he scored in 2015.#INDvAUS
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) March 13, 2019
No player has now scored more runs in a five-match bilateral ODI series against India in India than Usman Khawaja. Khawaja has now gone past AB de Villiers’ record of scoring 358 runs which he scored in 2015.#INDvAUS
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) March 13, 2019
Earlier, Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and decided to bat first in fifth and deciding one-day international against India.
“Looks like a pretty dry wicket, hopefully we can post a big score and defend it,” Finch said.
Australia made two changes, with Shaun Marsh replaced by Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Lyon coming back into the team to replace Jason Behrendorff.
India also made two changes, with K.L. Rahul and Yuzvendra Chahal making way for Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja.
India captain Virat Kohli said he would have batted first if he had won the toss.
“Hopefully it doesn’t break down so much. Hopefully there’s dew later,” Kohli said. “This is a knockout game for us. Everyone is pumped up.”
India won the first two ODIs in Hyderabad and Nagpur but Australia tied the series with successive wins in Ranchi and Mohali.
Lineups:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey, Jhye Richardson, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa.