Chasing a modest 251-run target, Australia needed 11 runs off the last six balls to win the 2nd ODI in Nagpur on Tuesday. On the other hand, the hosts were 2 wickets shy from going 2-0 in the series. But captain Virat Kohli was undecided over whom to hand over the all-important 50th over.
The regular bowlers had completed their spells and he had to choose between Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar. The decision was tough to make – deploying a spinner in the last over could have been a risk while Shankar wasn’t that impressive as he leaked 13 runs in his only over.
Finally, Shankar got the ball and he wrote a new chapter in the history of the gentlemen’s game.
Marcus Stoinis had kept the Australian hopes alive with his fifty and was ready to hammer the bowler down the ground. A seam-up delivery from Shankar rapped his pads, and he was adjudged leg-before. The Australian all-rounder asked for the review but it returned an ‘umpire’s call’.
Adam Zampa managed to take two off the next ball but Shankar rattled his middle stump off the third delivery of the over and helped India winning the game by 8 runs.
Before the last over drama, pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/19) dismissed Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pat Cummins in space of three balls in the 46th over and conceded just one run in the 48th over, playing a crucial role in India's win after the spinners had choked the Australians in the middle overs.
It was India's 500th win in the ODI format. The first victory had come in 1975 against East Africa under then captain S Venkatraghvan.
India now lead the five-match series 2-0 with the third match slated for Friday in Ranchi.