Canberra: India faced its fourth successive defeat in the five-match series against Australia when the hosts beat India by 25 runs in the fourth ODI against being played in Canberra. Chasing a mammoth target of 348 put up by Australia, India were all out at the score of 323 in the 49th over.
Centuries by Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan went in vain as India's middle order crumbled with batsmen throwing their wickets away at quick intervals. While Virat scored 106 off 92 balls, Dhawan put up a decent 126 in 113 balls.
Earlier, riding on a powerful batting performance, including a century from opener Aaron Finch, Australia posted a formidable 348/8 in the fourth One Day International (ODI) against India at the Manuka Oval here on Wednesday.
Finch scored a run-a-ball 107 and posted an opening partnership of 187 runs with David Warner (93) to lay the foundation of a big total.
Steven Smith (51) also posted a useful contribution in the middle order before Glenn Maxwell (41) came up with the fireworks towards the end to give the Australian innings a superb finish.
Pacers Ishant Sharma (4/77) and Umesh Yadav (3/67) came up with a flurry of late wickets to keep the Australian total below the 350-run mark.
Australia win toss, opt to bat first
Australia captain Steve Smith earlier this morning won the toss and decided to bat first in the 4th and penultimate ODI match against India.
With the series already decided in favour of Australia, India will play for pride and aim to give their best to avoid another defeat.
Despite centuries from opener Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Virat Kohli, the visitors could not avoid defeat as some poor bowling saw all three ODIs going against them. India lost the first ODI by five wickets, second by seven wickets and third by three wickets.
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The Australians were given the task to chase in the first two ODIs. With the hosts finishing the task on both days, they preferred to bat second when they won the toss in the third match in Melbourne on Sunday. A disappointing effort from the Indian bowlers saw the home team chase down all three big totals with ease.
On Wednesday, the young Indian bowling attack will have to try and put pressure on the opposition and keep their previous mistakes behind them to deliver for the side.
It will be the first time that India will take on Australia at the Manuka Oval. The Men in Blue have played here only once before, losing to Sri Lanka in the 2007-08 CB Series.
The teams:
Australia: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steven Smith (Captain), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, John Hastings, Kane Richardson, Nathan Lyon.
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Gurkeerat Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rishi Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
