Australia piled up an enormous tally of 348 for India to chase after batting first for the first time this series, in the fourth ODI at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
In front of a sold-out crowd in the region of 12,500 as Canberra pitches for an inaugural Test match next summer, David Warner and Aaron Finch added 187 to set the perfect platform before Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell added plenty of late-innings pyrotechnics to pile up 111 from the last 10 overs of the innings.
In addition to their bowling travails, Ajinkya Rahane suffered split webbing in his right hand when fielding and a spokesman said he would bat "if required". Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma shared seven wickets between them, but at a cost of 144 runs. Ravindra Jadeja was more successful at limiting the scoring rate, but lacked a spin-bowling offsider.
The hosts had included Nathan Lyon for his first ODI appearance since he faced Pakistan in Dubai in late 2014, while Warner returned in place of Shaun Marsh at the top of the order following the birth of his second child.
India again ignored the spin of R Ashwin, while including Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the expense of the young left-armer Barinder Sran. The Manuka pitch looked typically dry and brimful of runs, though offering the possibility of slowing up and helping reverse swing later on; Smith chose to bat for the first time this series as a consequence.In front of a sold-out crowd in the region of 12,500 as Canberra pitches for an inaugural Test match next summer, David Warner and Aaron Finch added 187 to set the perfect platform before Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell added plenty of late-innings pyrotechnics to pile up 111 from the last 10 overs of the innings.
In addition to their bowling travails, Ajinkya Rahane suffered split webbing in his right hand when fielding and a spokesman said he would bat "if required". Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma shared seven wickets between them, but at a cost of 144 runs. Ravindra Jadeja was more successful at limiting the scoring rate, but lacked a spin-bowling offsider.
The hosts had included Nathan Lyon for his first ODI appearance since he faced Pakistan in Dubai in late 2014, while Warner returned in place of Shaun Marsh at the top of the order following the birth of his second child.
Warner did not take long to find his range on return to the team, the new white balls pinging off his bat with regularity after he got a sighter by sauntering to 3 from 12 balls. The fourth over of the afternoon had him launching into Bhuvneshwar, a trio of boundaries exposing the variable lengths and lines of the visiting attack.
The next over brought three more balls sent to the fence, this time off Umesh, and the tone of the innings had been set. It was to be further underlined when Finch and Warner both inflicted injuries on those in the path of the balls they were pummelling, the umpire Richard Kettleborough limping from the field after a heavy blow to the leg, before Bhuvneshwar needed treatment for a finger stung by Warner's straight drive.
From this point Warner was in complete command while Finch rode happily in his slipstream, their union only broken when the vice-captain took a big swing at Ishant and dragged on, for 93. Even in this dismissal a difference between Australia and India could be seen - a looming hundred made no difference to how Warner would play.
There was something a little more hesitant in the batting of Mitchell Marsh, promoted to No. 3 for seemingly no other reason than to grant him some time in the middle now that the series is decided. The position of responsibility appeared to weigh heavily on Marsh, who battled for timing and also to rotate the strike, even as Finch accelerated to his second century in successive ODI innings on this ground.
Finch's increasing sense of urgency resulted in a skied pull shot well held by Ishant, to bring Smith to the middle with 12.3 overs remaining. The gulf in batting touch between Marsh and Smith was swiftly illustrated as the captain took no time at all to get into stride, one pratfall when trying to sweep Jadeja the lone exception. Marsh eventually mistimed a high ball to long-on, prompting another batting order tweak as Maxwell joined Smith.
Smith skipped to his fifty from 27 balls before falling to another skier, then a hustle and bustle last four overs reaped 47 even as regular wickets fell, the last over conceding 18 before Maxwell was out to the final ball. India fancy themselves as chasers, but they have the steepest of tasks ahead.
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