Two old Mumbai hands, who have seen each other grow as cricketers from teenage days and who played for the same club, sealed the series for India, propelling the team to its ninth consecutive ODI win and sixth successive bilateral-series win, which also put them on top of the ICC ODI rankings. A 139-run opening partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma saw India make light work of a 294-run target set by Australia.
It was the third time in a bilateral series that Australia had lost the first three ODIs. It would hurt, considering this was their best effort so far in the series, which came courtesy Aaron Finch, who returned for this game after missing out the first two due to injury. Finch plundered 124 runs in quick time and charged Australia to a decent total, but it was not enough. Kohli sent out more worrying signs for the opposition when he said, “We may give opportunities for people from now, but all 15 guys know that we got to be ruthless once we step onto the field. I know it won’t happen every single day, but at least that mindset is there. Credit to the whole squad for the series win, but the journey stops only after the final game.”