Shikhar Dhawan’s 16th ODI century led India to a stiff total of 358/9 in the fourth ODI against Australia at Mohali.
Dhawan brought up his ton off 97 balls while sharing a 193-run opening stand with Rohit Sharma, who was out for 95. Despite the disappointment of Sharma missing out on a century of his own, India will welcome the return to form of both their openers after a lean patch, with Dhawan finishing on 143 off 115.
The duo went past the partnership of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to become the second-most prolific opening pair for India, while their 15th century stand takes them to within one of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist for second-most 100-run partnerships by an opening pair.
KL Rahul, making a comeback to the side having last played an ODI last September, came ahead of skipper Virat Kohli, but could only manage 26 off 31 in a stop-start innings, while Kohli, batting in the unfamiliar position of 4, suffered a rare failure.
Cameos for Rishabh Pant, in for the rested MS Dhoni, and Vijay Shankar, helped India set a target of 359, though they may wonder if they could have managed a bigger score, with 400 looking on at one stage. Nonetheless, Australia face a tough task to level the series heading into the fifth match in New Delhi.
India made four changes to the XI that fell short of wrapping up the ODI series against Australia on Friday, as Kohli won the toss and elected to bat.
India, who are 2-1 up in the five-match series having lost on Friday, also reshuffled their bowling attack, bringing in leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for left-armer Ravindra Jadeja and swapping seamer Mohammad Shami, who suffered a minor knock in the last match, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Australia were also forced into a change thanks to a hand injury for Marcus Stoinis, bringing in Ashton Turner in his stead. Stoinis’ absence weakened the pace attack, and thus off-spinner Nathan Lyon was dropped to accommodate Jason Behrendoff.
