David Warner and Aaron Finch lit up the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai with their respective ODI centuries as Australia inched closer to a winning start against India in the series opener of the three-game contest on Tuesday. While Warner scored his 18th ODI ton, the Aussie skipper scored his 16th ODI century as the pair added more than 200 runs for the opening partnership, the most by an opening pair in India in ODIs.
In reply to India's modest total of 255 runs amassed in 49.1 overs, Warner and Finch took Australia off to a promising stand with regular boundaries that kept their run rate over the required one. They added 84 runs inside the powerplays the most by a visiting team in India since World Cup 2015.
With their century stand, their ninth in ODIs against India. the pair became the second-most prolific opening pair for the Aussies, while in going past 150, Finch and Warner now have the joint-most 150-plus stands for their country. And with a boundary against Jasprit Bumrah down point by Warner, the pair brought up their 200-plus partnership - the highest opening stand against India in an ODI run chase surpassing the unbeaten stand of 200 between Stuart Williams and Shiv Chanderpaul in Bridgetown in 1997.
The boundary also brought up Warner's 18th century in the format as he became the Aussie batsman with joint-second most centuries alongside Mark Waugh. Only Ricky Ponting stands ahead in the list with his tally of 30 centuries. This is also his fourth ODI century in eight innings against India. Finch brought it up with a four against Bumrah. This was also the first ever instance of both the openers scoring a hundred in a same innings while chasing against India in ODIs.
