Journalism of Courage
India's quest to find right combinations for the upcoming World Cup ended with a 35–run defeat in the decisive fifth ODI against Australia as they lost the series 2-3 in New Delhi on Wednesday. In what was their last game before the showpiece event in United Kingdom, the Indian innings folded for 237, exactly in 50 overs while chasing a 273-run target. Australia had put on board 272 for nine, built around Usman Khawaja's (100) second hundred of the series. (AP Photo)
After electing to bat first, Australia got off to a fine start as the opening pair of Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja stiched an opening partnership of 76 runs, before the Australian seamer was removed by Ravindra Jadeja on 27. (AP Photo)
Usman Khawaja, who had not scored a century before arriving to India for this series, hit an exact 100 off 106 balls as he shared two big partnerships at the top of the order to set platform for the visiting side. (AP Photo)
Peter Handscomb constructed a crucial 99-run stand with Khawaja for the fourth wicket as Australia posted 272/9 in their respective 50 overs. Handscomb scored 52 from 60 deliveries before he was dismissed by Mohammed Shami. (PTI Photo)
India could not make a flying start, losing last match's centurion Shikhar Dhawan (12) early and managed just 43 runs in the 10 Powerplay overs. (PTI Photo)
Rohit was again slow off the blocks, hardly rotating the strike but found some elegant boundaries off the pacers. He was the only Indian batsman who managed to score a half-century. (PTI Photo)
Reduced to 132 for six inside 30 overs, India were out of the contest and Kedar Jadhav (44) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (46) just reduced the defeat margin. Their 91-run stand off 103 balls, however, showed that there were no demons in the wicket. (AP Photo)
Marcus Stoinis cleaned up Kuldeep Yadav in the final delivery of the Indian innigs as Australia won the contest by 35 runs. It was India's first ODI series defeat at home since losing to South Africa in 2015 as their big guns fell silent on the day when the series was on line. (PTI Photo)
