A David Warner century inspired Australia to a victory in the fourth one-day international against India, restoring some pride for the tourists with the series already lost.
While India won the five-match series after winning the first three encounters, Australia snapped an 11-game away losing streak in Thursday’s fourth ODI in Bangalore.
David Warner’s 124 in his 100th match helped his side set India 335 to win, a target which the hosts fell 21 runs short of after some classy bowling at the death from Australia.
“We have to keep thinking about how to get better overseas because at the moment that’s just not good enough,” said David Saker, who is standing in for Darren Lehmann.
India were on target until an outstanding piece of fielding from skipper Steve Smith gave Australia a crucial breakthrough at 1-135. His save at backward point sparked confusion between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who ended up at the same end as his partner before being run out for 65 at the other end.
Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav put on 78 for the fourth wicket until Adam Zampa got some revenge on his chief tormentor. The leg-spinner went for 41 off his first five overs, but bounced back with the vital wicket of Pandya (41) who was caught on the boundary by David Warner.
Kohli said the team had no regrets about resting the bulk of their front-line bowling attack with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav.
“We won the series and you have to try the guys out at some stage,” Kohli said. “You need to test your bench strength as well.”