All­-Round India Pulls Off Another First Down Under

After Chahal’s six-­for sets the ball rolling, Dhoni’s well­paced 87 and Jadhav’s timely fifty hand the visitors series triumph

Mahendra Singh Dhoni rekindled his love affair with final flourishes, anchoring India to its maiden bilateral One-­Day International series triumph in Australia for a perfect finish to a historic trip down under here on Friday.

India became the first country to return from Australia without losing a single series, having won the Test series 2­1 and drawn the Twenty20 Internationals 1­1.

Dhoni 3.0

From a dasher, to a finisher to finally the anchor in the last leg of his career, ‘Dhoni 3.0’ was in full flow during India’s successful chase of 231 on a sluggish Melbourne pitch after Yuzvendra Chahal set it up with a career­best six for 42.

“It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, so it was important to take the game deep,” said India skipper Virat Kohli at the post­match presentation.

“Two set batsmen there who knew what to do and they got the job done. We’ve been here a long time, it’s been an amazing tour. We drew the T20 series, won the Test series and now the ODIs. If you had given me these results before the tour, I would have gladly taken it,” he added.