Dhawan century and pacers secure India victory

India 352 for 5 (Dhawan 117, Kohli 82, Rohit 57, Stoinis 2-62) beat Australia 316 (Smith 69, Warner 56, Carey 55*, B Kumar 3-50, Bumrah 3-61) by 36 runs

London: India beat Australia by 36 runs at the Kennington Oval, London on Sunday.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan’s sparkling hundred (117 off 109 balls) along with with a clinical bowling performance by Jasprit Bumrah (3/60), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/46) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/62) helped the men in blue defeat the Kangaroos in their second World Cup match.

India won the toss and chose to bat first against Australia on a used pitch at the Oval.

Batting first, openers Rohit Sharma and Dhawan started off cautiously, reaching 41/0 after 10 overs. But they let loose against the change bowlers and were untroubled in achieving their 16th-century partnership.

Dhawan was the star of the show as he added 127 runs with Sharma (57) and 93 with skipper Virat Kohli (82) to lay the foundation for a big total.

While Kohli made a breezy 82, Hardik Pandya and smashed 48 off 27 balls. Dhoni’s quickfire 24 took India to 352/5. Marcus Stoinis claimed 2/62 for Australia

In reply, Australia got off to a rather strange start with openers David Warner and Aaron Finch keeping it slow at the start.

Warner had an early reprieve when the zing bails came to his rescue.

However, Finch’s run-out in the 13th over pegged the Kangaroos back. From thereon, Steve Smith and Warner kept the scoreboard ticking until Warner fell for 56 in the 25th over.

Usman Khawaja and Glenn Maxwell hit cameos but it wasn’t enough to take their side pas the finishing line.

An opening partnership of 127 between Shikhar Dhawan (117) and Rohit Sharma (57) gave India wickets in hand to have a late bash.

Sharma and Dhawan’s century stand was their 16th in ODIs, tied for second in history with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, and behind only Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar with 21.

Virat Kohli and allrounder Hardik Pandya, promoted ahead of Lokesh Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the 38th over, took full advantage by combining for 81 runs off 55 deliveries.