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1. Run chase = Virat Kohli
At 67 for two while chasing 165, India were not exactly in trouble but at 108 for 4 in the 14th over, the anxiety was mounting. They needed a front line batsman to stay put till the end. And none suits to that job more than Kohli. He was never hurried, picked his bowlers and spots to collect runs and ran hard between the wickets. He was giving a quick revision to us on how to chase down targets.
2. Indian spinners shine
Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav bowled contrasting spells but were effective in their own way. Pandya was expensive conceding 36 runs in his four overs but picked up 4 wickets - Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D'Arcy Short and Alex Carey, each capable of doing damage. On the other hand, Kuldeep kept the Australian batsmen guessing with his bag of tricks and picked up the wickets of Aaron Finch and gave away just 19 runs.
3. Shikhar Dhawan in flow
The left-handed opener made a 22-ball 41 and shared a 67-run partnership with Rohit Sharma in just 5.3 overs and that strong foundation made Kohli's job that much easier. He had also made a fifty at Brisbane and selecting him as player of the series was a very natural process. Unfortunately, Dhawan will miss out on Tests as he failed to make the cut after a modest series in England. But soon, Dhawan will be required in coloured clothing against Australia and New Zealand. And he has already given us some good portents.
4. Dinesh Karthik's maturity
The situational awareness Karthik showed while assisting Kohli at Sydney has been remarkable. He just kept rotating strike and to lace the effort he struck a massive six off Andrew Tye. He knew Kohli was the man in touch and just allowed him the space to control the innings. He certainly warrants a place in the ODI side and should bat higher than Rishabh Pant in T20Is and ODIs.
5. Worry on KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant
Rahul is struggling in the middle-order in limited over formats - either at 3 or 4 and can't see him getting the opening slot that he prefers because Dhawan and Rohit are set in their places. The way he threw his wicket away at Sydney underlines it. Rahul will be seen in action during the Test series and hopefully he will find his range at the pole position. Pant needs to show some patience at the crease and discretion in shot selection. Of course, he is just 21 and has lot of time to get his act together. He will also be seen in action in the Test series and he should take the lessons from the T20I series to longer format.
