Mohali: Unheralded Ashton Turner took an experienced Indian attack to the cleaners with some unbelievable hitting, helping Australia chase down a record breaking target of 359 runs and level the five-match series here Sunday.

It was the highest ever total that Indian team failed to defend in its ODI history, losing the game by four wickets.

Playing only his second ODI, Turner hit an unbeaten 84 off 43 balls with five boundaries and as many six sixes to help Australia win in only 47.5 overs. Earlier in the day, Shikhar Dhawan fired India to 358 for nine with a sublime 143 off 115 balls.

The partnership of 86 off 39 balls between Turner and Alex Carey became the turning point after Peter Handscomb and Usman Khawaja had set the platform with a 192-run third-wicket stand.

The big lad, who has been a designated finisher for Big Bash League side Perth Scorchers, showed his finishing skills against world's best death bowler Jasprit Bumrah (3/63), hitting him for an effortless ramp shot.

The swagger with which he lofted Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/67) over long-on and deep mid-wicket, earned him a few fans among the home crowd and the poor Indian fielding did help his cause with Kedar Jadhav and Shikhar Dhawan dropping sitters.

Turner used his big reach to hit those big sixes down the ground off Kuldeep and Chahal.

Khawaja (91 off 99 balls) and Handscomb (117 off 105 ) set the tone as they played Yuzvendra Chahal (1/64 in 10 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/80 in 10 overs) with ease.

The duo kept Australia in the hunt taking 73 runs off Vijay Shankar (0/29 in 5 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (0/44)'s combined 10-over spell.

Khawaja and Handscomb found the gaps with ease and the dew made it difficult for the Indian spinners with ball looking like a slippery bar of soap.

Khawaja was finally done in by a short ball from Bumrah and once Handscomb was dismissed, India were smelling victory but Turner changed it all.

Batting first, India looked a completely different side with opening duo putting on 193 runs on arguably the flattest track on offer during the ongoing series.

While Dhawan got his 16th hundred in ODIs, vice-captain Rohit (95 off 92 balls) missed out on what could have been a very well-deserved 23rd hundred with Australian bowlers looking like lambs for slaughter.

Pat Cummins (5/70 in 10 overs) and Jhye Richardson (3/85 in 9 overs) shared the spoils but were taken to task by the Indian openers for their wayward bowling.

Dhawan, who last reached a three-figure mark against Pakistan in an Asia Cup match in September 2018, was in fluent touch from the onset, hitting 18 fours and three sixes.

It released the pressure on Rohit, who initially was watchful even as Dhawan went after the bowling.

With another opening slot hopeful KL Rahul inducted into the playing XI, the 33-year-old Dhawan finally looked to have been shaken out of his comfort zone and played like only he could.

On a ground where it all started with a dream Test debut back in 2013 against the same opposition, the southpaw decided to ease any worries that the team management had with regards to his form going into the World Cup.

With left-arm seamer Jason Behrendorff and premier speedster Pat Cummins feeding him on his legs, Dhawan got a flurry of boundaries inside the first six overs.

There is a saying about Dhawan that if he gets a cover drive in the initial overs, he is a difficult man to stop.

On a track, where the bowlers needed to pitch it further up, the Aussies bowled short and it helped Dhawan to muscle it through the mid-wicket region repeatedly.

Glenn Maxwell's (0/61 in 8 overs) venom-less off-breaks were like cannon fodder for Dhawan, who deposited two half-trackers for maximum.

Rohit also gained in confidence as lofted Adam Zampa (1/57 in 10 overs) for a huge six.

Finch (/22 in 3 overs) introduced himself but his friendly slow left-arm bowling was treated with contempt by Rohit.

He picked up Richardson's slow bouncers and guided one behind square and pulled one in-front. However, in his bid to reach the three-figure mark with a six, he deposited the third one down deep mid-wicket's throat with five to get for his hundred.

Dhawan continued to attack as he surpassed his previous best of 137 against South Africa at the MCG during the 2015 World Cup.

He looked good for a double hundred but was out trying to give Cummins the charge but the platform for a big score was set by then.

 

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New Delhi, Oct 24: Justice Sanjiv Khanna was on Thursday appointed the 51st Chief Justice of India.

He will take oath on November 11, a day after incumbent Justice D Y Chandrachud demits office on attaining the age of 65.

Justice Chandrachud took over as the CJI on November 8, 2022.

Justice Khanna will have a tenure of a little over six months as CJI and would demit office on May 13, 2025.

"In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon'ble President, after consultation with Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India as Chief Justice of India with effect from 11th November, 2024," Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal posted on X.

Justice Khanna was appointed an additional judge of the Delhi High Court in 2005 and was made a permanent judge in 2006. On January 18, 2019, he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court.

Born on May 14, 1960, he studied law at the Campus Law Centre of Delhi University.

Some of the notable judgments of Justice Khanna in the Supreme Court include upholding the use of electronic voting machines in elections, saying the devices were secure and eliminated booth capturing and bogus voting.

He was also part of the five-judge bench that declared the electoral bond scheme, meant for funding of political parties, as unconstitutional.

Justice Khanna was a part of the five-judge bench, which upheld the Centre's 2019 decision abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution which granted a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Justice Khanna, who is the senior-most judge after the outgoing CJI, and the executive chairman of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA), had granted interim bail to the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, an accused in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam cases, for campaigning in Lok Sabha elections.

He is the nephew of former apex court judge H R Khanna, who was part of the landmark verdict propounding the basic structure doctrine in Kesavananda Bharati case of 1973.

The retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 65 years, while high court judges demit office at the age of 62 years.

The Centre recently asked CJI Chandrachud to name his successor.

According to the memorandum of procedure (MoP) -- a set of documents guiding appointment, elevation and transfer of high court and Supreme Court judges -- the law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her successor.

Law Minister Meghwal had written to CJI Chandrachud asking him to name his successor.

The MoP says the senior-most judge of the apex court is considered fit to hold the office of the CJI and the views of the outgoing head of the judiciary have to be sought "at an appropriate time".

The MoP, however, does not specify the time limit for the initiation of the process of recommending the name of the successor CJI.