Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja
Eyeing to salvage a win in the final game of the three-match ODI series against Australia, Team India elected to bat first at Manuka Oval. After being jolted with the early departure of Shikhar Dhawan, youngster Shubman Gill and skipper Virat Kohli stuck in the middle to stitch a 56-run stand for the second wicket.
However, after the departure of Gill in the 16th over, India lost wickets in quick succession. Shreyas Iyer was sent back on 19 while KL Rahul was dismissed on just 5. India's run-flow was dented with a massive blow when skipper Kohli was also shown the exit door by Hazlewood with the scoreboard reading 152/5 after 32 overs.
The possibility of India crossing the 300-run mark was looking slim but the Hardik Pandya-Ravindra Jadeja duo had other plans. Flaunting their ability with the bat, both the all-rounder first took the visitors past 200 runs. Boosting the run-flow with some fireworks at the end, Hardik and Jadeja scored 110 runs in the last 10 overs, guiding India to a challenging total of 302 runs. While Hardik scored 92 off 76, Jadeja gathered a 50-ball 66.
In their pursuit to take India to a respectable total, Jadeja and Hardik also broke a 21-year-old record. The pair stitched a 150-run stand for the sixth wicket-- the highest for India in the 50-overs format. They eclipsed the previous record which was made by Robin Singh and Sadagopan Ramesh in Colombo back in 1999. Singh and Ramesh had weaved 121 runs for the sixth wicket.
Hardik and Jadeja also registered the highest sixth-wicket partnership in Australia. The previous record was held by Michael Hussey and Shane Watson, who had stitched 145-run stand in 2005.
