Rohit's 209 key as India win series

Rohit Sharma hammered only the third double century in ODIs as India crushed Australia by 57 runs in the seventh and final ODI to win a bilateral series over the visitors for the first time since 1986. Rohit, who was involved in Virat Kohli's run-out for a duck this afternoon, compensated for the error, by slamming 209 off 158 balls, studding it with 14 fours and 16 sixes. Backed up by half-centuries by Shikhar Dhawan (60) and MS Dhoni (62), India piled up a daunting 383/6, thanks to the 100 Rohit and Dhoni smashed off the last five overs. In reply, Australia were down for the count at 211/8 in the 31st over but James Faulkner, batting at number seven gave India a royal fright with his century, the fastest by an Australian. Glenn Maxwell (60 off 22 balls), Shane Watson (49 off 22 balls) had set the base for Faulkner's heroics but at the end, India's bowlers came on top, with Mohammad Shami (3/52), Ravindra Jadeja (3/73) and R Ashwin (2/51) folding Australia up for 326 off 45.1 overs. Needing to score more than seven runs an over through their innings, Australia needed a strong start but Mohammad Shami removed Aaron Finch in the second over of the innings. Australia never really recovered from the early setback and were soon in deep trouble, reeling at 74/4 in the 17th over. However, Maxwell came out all guns blazing to clobber sixes at will and once he departed Watson took on the role as Australia's chase was given a sudden lease of life. When Watson exited, Australia were still no where in sight but Faulkner's belligerence and a stand of 115 for the ninth wicket with Clint McKay kept the capacity crowd on the edge of their seats for almost the entire match. However, it was over all too quickly when Jadeja removed McKay off the last ball of his spell and Faulkner holed out to Dhawan in the deep off Shami in the first ball of the 45th over. Even the usually cool MS Dhoni could not contain his emotions as India sealed the series after five high-scoring matches, where the bowlers had come under severe fire. Earlier, after being put in to bat by Australia, Dhawan and Rohit got India off to another sizzling start. Without Mitchell Johnson to bother them in the initial overs, the openers made merry and found the boundaries with alarming ease. Dhawan was the more aggressive of the two while Rohit was once again content playing the anchor's role early on. The duo brought up their third hundred run partnership and sixth of the year and had raced away to 107/0 after 17 overs, before a short burst of rain forced the players off the field. However, once play resumed, Australia came back strongly, with Xavier Doherty removing Dhawan and Kohli, India's best batsman of the series, being run out for a duck after a terrible mix-up with Rohit. It was now up to Rohit to make up for the huge loss and he did not disappoint, accelerating with a flurry of sixes and adding 72 runs off 9.4 overs with Suresh Raina, who looked a lot more comfortable. But Australia were not out yet and they soon hit back again as Doherty dismissed Raina and Yuvraj Singh fell to James Faulkner. The onus was on Rohit and skipper MS Dhoni to push India past 300 but the latter was approaching a hundred and Dhoni had just come to the wicket when the batting powerplay was taken. Australia slipped in a few dot balls before Rohit went past the three-figure mark and took the attack on once again, also going past 400 runs in the series in the process. Rohit got a reprieve when he hooked a short one from James Faulkner and the ball slipped through Moises Henriques' (substituting for Shane Watson) fingers at deep square leg. That was the last thing Australia needed and Rohit was in the mood to make them pay after his nightmarish mix-up accounted for Kohli. Rohit played some delightful shots and went past 1000 runs in a year for the first time in his career. There was a sudden change of gears from the Indian pair and Rohit was at the forefront still, clobbering Doherty for three sixes and two fours to take 26 off the 47th over. Soon, Rohit was threatening Virender Sehwag's ODI record of 219 and even though he fell short by ten runs, the opener broke Watson's record of most sixes in an innings by smashing 16 by the time he departed to Clint McKay in the final over.