Sydney [Australia], October 25 : Former skipper and veteran swashbuckler Rohit Sharma became the seventh Indian to complete 100 catches in ODIs, while young speedster Harshit Rana went level with decorated spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the record of most wickets for India after the first eight ODIs.
After being put in the field by Australia, Rohit flexed his safe catching hands by effortlessly completing two opportunities and entered the special club. The 38-year-old joined Virat Kohli (164), Mohammad Azharuddin (160), Sachin Tendulkar (140), Rahul Dravid (124), Suresh Raina (102) and Sourav Ganguly (100).
For his first of the day, Rohit, stationed at the slip, comfortably pouched the thick outside edge of Mitchell Owen (1) that flew to him off Harshit Rana. For his second, Nathan Ellis, who tried to make the most of Prasidh Krishna's low full toss, holed out to Rohit on 16(19).
While Rohit remained clinical in the field, Harshit stole the limelight with his searing spell and scythed a four-wicket haul. With a clinical performance, Harshit's tally soared to 16 wickets, taking him level with Ashwin, who also scythed 16 after his first eight ODI games.
Prasidh Krishna, Ajit Agarkar, both with 19 each and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (17) are the only ones to scalp more than Harshit for India. Under pressure and with questions around his place in the team, Harshit silenced his critics by leaving Australia's batting unit jolted with his sizzling figures of 4/39 in an 8.4-over spell. His dazzling spell pushed Australia to 236, setting a comfortable platform for India's victory.
Harshit was instrumental in orchestrating one of Australia's worst batting collapses in their rich ODI history. There haven't been many instances of Australia cruising at a 180-plus score for a loss of three wickets and then crumbling against the opposition attack.
However, India ensured to put a dent in their impeccable record by forcing them to crumble from 183/3 to 236. Australia lost its last seven scalps for a mere 53 runs, resulting in the hosts falling well short of exploiting Sydney's high-scoring conditions.