cricket

Updated: Mar 13, 2019 09:34 IST

Australia hold a comfortable lead over India in terms of head-to-head matches in one-day internationals. In 135 encounters between the two teams so far, the Aussies have come out on top 76 times, the most the ‘Men in Blue’ have lost to any team, while India have won 49 matches.

India’s win percentage against the Australians is also their lowest against any full member nation of the ICC. But ever since winning the 2011 ICC World Cup, India have been the team to beat in 50-over cricket and that has improved the team’s record further.

The two teams have so far completed 10 bilateral ODI series with the current one being the 11th to be played. Out of these only two series have been played in Australia as India have mostly taken part in multi-nation and triangular tournaments down under.

Since their first bilateral series in 1984, which the Aussies won 3-0, India have never managed to get ahead of the Aussies. Apart from a 3-2 success in a 6-match series in 1986, the Indians had to wait till 2010 to win a bilateral ODI series against Australia.

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But recent successes, which includes a 2-1 victory in January 2019, India’s first on Australian soil, have ensured that both the teams are locked 5-5 in terms of the number of bilateral series won. So, the match at Feroz Shah Kotla on Wednesday will give Virat Kohli and his team a chance to create history.

Victory in Delhi, Virat Kohli’s homeground, will ensure that India move ahead of the Aussies for the first time in ODI cricket and that will be one grand achievement. The possibilities of the same are high as well as India have a great record in series deciders over the past few years.

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The Aussies on the other hand would also want to win the match desperately and put an end to a dismal run on bilateral ODI series. The Aussies last won a series in January 2017, when they annihilated Pakistan 4-1 at home. Since then the Aussies have lost 6 straight series, which includes two losses each to England and India.

So, the tie at the Kotla is a crucial one and expect both teams to fire on all cylinders in this battle for supremacy.