India vs Australia: A successful experiment, a spicy addition and a comeback - 3 big takeaways from India’s emphatic series win

After their series win against Australia, Team India captain Virat Kohli spoke about the intensity, the body language and the ability of the side to bounce back from losses as the biggest takeaways from India’s start in 2020. India were trounced in the first match in Wankhede and the side showed great resolve in bouncing back. Here in this article, we take a look at three big takeaways for India from the series.

KL Rahul can be used in the middle order

When Rishabh Pant was ruled out owing to a concussion, India were forced to use Rahul as a wicket-keeper batsman. The Karnataka player walked out at number 5 in Rajkot and did not look out of place. He went after the bowlers from ball 1 and was the perfect batsman to apply finishing touches to the innings.

Not only this, Rahul was quite secure behind the stumps and this prompted Kohli to say that India would continue to use him in this role for the near future. With Shreyas Iyer looking solid at number 4, KL Rahul can be the perfect finisher for India at the number 5 position.

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Ability in the death overs

India were mauled in the first ODI in Mumbai when the bowlers were not able to separate the openers and Australia cruised home with 10 wickets to spare. There were changes made - Navdeep Saini was included and this was a superb move as the fast bowler added pace and fire to India’s attack in the middle and death overs.

In the second match at Rajkot, the Indian bowlers combined to nail almost 50 yorkers in the final few overs and they continued this good form even in Bengaluru.

Bowling in the death has always been a problematic area for India in limited-overs cricket, but this series was an absolute revelation for the hosts.

Shikhar Dhawan regains his mojo

There were question marks over Shikhar Dhawan’s position in the ODI side as KL Rahul has been in rocking form in the recent past. However, the left-hander showed exactly why he is one of the best in limited-overs cricket with two superb innings in the series.

A shoulder injury prevented him from taking the field in the Bengaluru ODI, but the southpaw has done enough to keep the detractors away for a little while now.