India vs Australia | Winners and Losers ft. MS Dhoni, Shaun Marsh and Ambati Rayudu

Winners

For Indian fans, the cult of MS Dhoni goes beyond numbers and bare statistics. Dhoni counts for smile, for the World Cup, for the infinite number of last over finishes, for helicopter shots, and for everything else that India hadn’t seen earlier. When Dhoni strikes, a genuine smile weaves across the face of millions in the country. India-Australia ODI series gave them that chance - Dhoni is back. He didn’t hit those towering sixes, but the confidence was hard to miss. Across three innings - which divided opinions like nothing else - his strike rate was within 75, but he made sure that he stayed till the end and didn’t leave any unfinished business for anyone. It was the classic MS Dhoni innings that Indian fans had fallen in love with and the way he took the responsibility holds India in good stead.

Shaun Marsh is a stunning paradox in the Australian cricket. They would probably have to appoint a separate statistician to count how many recalls Marsh has had ever since making his ODI debut in 2008. However, it seems like the elder of the Marsh brothers is finally settling his place down in the team. After the Cardiff century against England, Marsh scored one more at Chester-le-Street before smashing another against South Africa in Hobart in November. And in the India series, he scored a total of 224 runs to bring an end to Australia’s middle-order chaos.

Most impressive of Marsh’s batting was the way he countered the Indian spinners. While much has been written about Australia’s struggles against spin, Marsh was more than comfortable against Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. It was sharply different from the team’s approach in the last four years. Many Australian batsmen tried to go after the spinners, without an understanding of the craft which means they were dismissed more often while playing attacking shots. But Marsh’s innings was more gritty than flashy. Instead of trying to outplay the duo of Jadeja and Kuldeep, he chose the front square as his scoring area in the first two innings. That maturity in his batting will keep Justin Langer in peace.

Ambati Rayudu

Despite having a top-three which is as good as anyone in the world, India’s middle order has been a problem area since the end of the 2015 World Cup. However, the last series provided a sneak-peak for India’s preparedness for the World Cup as MS Dhoni showed signs of returning back to form, Kedar Jadhav played a mature innings, and Dinesh Karthik stepped up to the plate to make sure that they have it in them to take the team down the line in case the top three fails. Amidst all this, Ambati Rayudu failed to make the No. 4 spot his own with twin failures in Sydney and Adelaide before being jettisoned for the last game. 

Aaron Finch

It has been a forgettable summer for Aaron Finch as he has gone 23 innings scoring only one half-century. His ODI record in the summer ended with a total of 83 runs in six innings against South Africa and India. While the runs have been elusive for the man from Victoria, the manner of the dismissal must haunt him the most. He has been dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s inswingers all three times in the series. 

For a fast bowler, the toughest thing while bowling to Finch is the right length as his tall stature makes it easy for him to go on the front foot quickly and, consequently, his back-foot play becomes minimal. However, the Aussie skipper is comfortable opening the face of the bat to get singles, and so Bhuvneshwar focused on luring him into a drive. And when he eventually got one to move in, the batsman had already been out of his position and was caught plumb in the MCG ODI. This is a very negative intuition and something that nobody expects from a batsman of the calibre of Finch. Even though the Aussie skipper admits that he needs a break and his bad form is the result of continuous intense cricket, his technique has deserted him big-time, and he needs to sort that out.