David Warner’s fifty goes in vain as Australia suffer defeat in Nagpur ODI

David Warner slammed his 17th half-century on Sunday but it went in vain as India beat Australia by seven wickets in final ODI in Nagpur to clinch series 4-1. (IND v AUS 5th ODI Highlights)

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, David Warner along with his partner Aaron Finch got off to a cautious start as India brought back Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah to the side replacing Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav. (IND v AUS Scores)

With Finch slamming a century in Bengaluru and another 94 in Indore, Warner let his partner take charge as he played second fiddle relying mostly on singles and doubles to keep rotating the strike.

After scoring just five runs off his initial 11 deliveries, Warner then pulled one through square leg to pick up his first boundary before smashing two more to the fence off Bumrah in the next over.

Finch, on the other hand, mostly relied on boundaries and smashed six to the fence before mistiming one off Hardik Pandya to head back in the 12th over.

In stark contrast to Finch’s hitting areas, which mostly focussed on the on-side, Warner picked up runs from all corners of the park.

He smashed two more boundaries before reaching his half century — punching Bhuvneshwar through the off-side and driving Kuldeep Yadav through the covers — as his captain settled in at the other end.

He finally reached his half-century mark with a push down to the extra-cover region in the 20th over but the celebrations were short-lived as Steve Smith had to head back to the pavilion in the very next delivery after Kedar Jadhav trapped the skipper on his pads.

Warner himself departed soon enough, holing out in the deep to Manish Pandey off Axar Patel’s bowling.