IND vs AUS 2017: Five negatives – Virat Kohli's bid to attain immortality turns sour in Bengaluru

IANS

New Delhi: Team Australia pulled off a stunner at M Chinnaswamy, Bengaluru, on Thursday with an astounding 21-run win in the fourth one-day international match in the ongoing series against India. And with it, the Aussies have snapped India's bid to register themselves as the greatest Indian team of all time.

Riding on an applauding 231-run opening partnership by Aaron Finch (94) and David Warner (124), the tourists amassed a massive total of 334 runs. The latter, in fact, notched up a blistering ton playing his 100th ODI game, and thus became the first-ever Aussie batsman to achieve the feat.

India did pick up the right note with an opening stand of a century that witnessed both Rohit Sharma (65) and Ajinkya Rahane (53) smash their respective fifties. But quick dismissals in the successive overs and then again in the death overs gave Aussies a chance to pull one back in their favour, in the series. Even Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav failed to rescue India's faltering innings and as it all swung the Aussie way at Chinnaswamy.

Here are the five side-effects for Team India with their 21-run defeat in Bengaluru in the fourth ODI match...

1. India lose top ranking – Only a three-day's pleasure and then all gone. After their stunning victory in Indore, Virat Kohli-led side became the first-ever Indian team, in its 85 years of history, to claim the top spot in the ICC Team rankings in both Tests and ODIs. But, of course, to strengthen their position atop, they had to maintain their streak. And they failed. Ergo, with 5828 points from 49 matches, India have ratings of 118.93 ≈ 119. South Africa, have once again climbed atop with 5957 points from 50 matches, with their ratings 119.14. Ergo, the difference is of just 0.21. However, if India can finish the series with a 4-1 win, then once again they can topple the Proteas side and reclaim top honour.

2. Failed to record the longest winning streak in ODIs by an Indian team – With nine successive wins on the trot, Team India headed in for the Bengaluru ODI in a bid to create history. With their victory in Indore, Virat had equalled MS Dhoni's record of leading the country to nine consecutive ODI victories. That was the longest ever. One more and they would script history.

With their formidable batting lineup and an 'invincible' tag, the Men in Blue were confident to grab that 10th victory. Alas! The 21-run defeat on Thursday left the record to be claimed for some other day.

3. First defeat in Chinnaswamy since 2003– This was Team India's first defeat in Bengaluru since November 2003. In the eighth match of the ODI series, the touring Australian side had scalped a 61-run win at the venue. Thereafter, the hosts played seven matches at Chinnaswamy with one ending in a no-result and one in a draw, but defeat never crossed their path. Until September 28.

4. Failed to whitewash Aussies – With three consecutive wins on the trot, the only thing that could have been surely expected from the Indian squad was a whitewash, or as Sachin Tendulkar said – "bluewash". Well, going by numbers, no Indian side has ever achieved this feat. Ergo, it could have been a record, a piece of history for the almost-young Indian brigade. But a determined Australia snatched a commendable 21-run win to end it all in vain for India.

5. Virat Kohli's losing streak at Chinnaswamy – It seems, in a bid to attain eternity, fans failed to notice Virat's recent and dismal track record at Chinnaswamy as a skipper. It was his sixth consecutive loss as captain for at the venue. He led his side to five successive home defeats whilst leading Royal Challengers Bangalore in the tenth season of the Indian Premier League, which in fact turned out to be the most awful of all their campaigns in the cash-rich league. And with yet another defeat, it becomes six for Kohli.