The Fantastico Trio of Rohit, Shikhar and Virat

Rohit, Virat and Dhawan - Fantastico Trio for Team India in the ODI series against Australia Down Under

The Indian team may have lost the VB ODI series 1-4 to Australia but the main positive point for Team India was the batting form of openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and also the continuing imperious form of number three Virat Kohli.

Rohit Sharma has been a perennial under achiever for the oodles of talent that he possesses. He is gradually beginning to realise his true potential and his penchant for Daddy Hundreds is now becoming something of a more common sight.

He started the series with a monstrous 171* at the WACA where his full array of shots was in full display. The powerful cuts and the languid flicks, the sumptuous cover drives made their presence felt. He followed that up with another masterclass as he made 124 at Gabba. These two totals propelled India beyond 300 in both the games but unfortunately India lost both these matches because of wayward bowling and inept fielding. He also made a 99 in the last ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground which helped India get off to good start and finally win the match in the end. In all he scored 441 runs in the 5 innings at an average of 110.25 and also maintained a strike rate of over 100 runs per hundred balls.

Virat has always done well in Australia and it was expected that he continue to do so this time around as well. He lived up to all the hype and expectations as he cracked two tons and two half centuries in the series. Virat started with a 91 and 59 before finally converting those starts in to more meaningful scores. He made 117 and 106 helping India post big scores but again India lost both these matches because of reasons mentioned above. In all, he scored 381 runs at an average of 76 and a strike rate of nearly 100.

Shikhar Dhawan started the series with two single figure score but the twirl of the moustache was back from the third ODI. He cracked a 68 in the match at MCG before making a stunning 126 off just 113 balls at Canberra. He followed these two innings with another rapid half century in the last match which set the tone for Manish Pandey and Rohit Sharma to finish off the record run chase at Sydney. He scored 287 runs at an average of almost 60 and a healthy strike rate touching 100.

These three were the Fantastico players for India and their good form with the bat augurs well for India as there is a lot of cricket to be played over the next few months including the Asia Cup and the all-important ICC WT20 2016 in March-April.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.