Before Saturday night, the last time India had defeated Australia in any format of the game was March 2014 at the World Twenty20. The sides had played four Tests and six ODIs since, with no results in India’s favour. It took something special to end that drought, especially when carrying a 4-0 deficit into the final game of a one-day series.
Manish Pandey and Jasprit Bumrah stepped forward when their side needed them, allowing India the chance to finish the VB Series on a high.
Pandey, though, played the fifth ODI only because Ajinkya Rahane was injured. After two games where he had little chance to do anything, he was dropped so that a misfiring bowling unit may be shored up. Pandey is not part of the T20 side and this was his one genuine audition on tour. He passed.
Pandey has performed under pressure before, notably scoring a 50-ball-74 in the 2014 IPL final and a super 144 in a tense Ranji Trophy final in 2010. The 26-year-old was not overawed by the occasion here. “He did not attempt rash shots — the one six he struck was a lovely lofted drive over long off — and manoeuvred the field cleverly.
“He paced his innings very well,” M.S. Dhoni said of his knock at the SCG here. “The kind of innings Manish has played, it gives you the extra 15 games to settle in and adapt to the demands of the game,” he said.
Steve Smith was also hugely complimentary about Pandey’s effort. “He’s obviously the first Indian to get a hundred in the IPL,” he said. “That’s a pretty special feat. I did play a little bit with him in Pune when I was there. He’s a quality young player. He hits the ball extremely quickly. He’s got a nice technique. He really stepped up tonight. I thought that was a magnificent innings under pressure.”
Bumrah, who took five for 28 in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy late last month, had been fantastic on debut, felt Dhoni. “He bowled well with the semi-new ball, he bowled well in the middle overs, and he bowled well at the death. He has got the variations, he has got a slightly awkward action,” he said.
Smith admitted that Bumrah had troubled him. “I’ve seen him a bit in the IPL,” he said. “He’s been pretty successful in that tournament. He’s got quite an awkward action, a little bit different. He gets the ball on to you a little bit quicker than you expect. He rushed me a bit tonight with the one I got.”
