How India got the better of Latham

India's plan against Latham
Tom Latham's innings in Mumbai was one of the finest played by an overseas player in India. The way he swept the Indian spinners reminded one of Matthew Hayden and Andy Flower. The only place that he didn't target against spin was the long-off region (he had scored only one run towards long-off on Sunday) and it felt that the hosts fielded with only eight men. The Indian bowlers and captain Virat Kohli learnt from that experience, prepared a plan and executed it well. The spinners bowled only a couple of balls within the stumps and constantly had both fine-leg and square-leg inside the circle. The line and the field placement meant the option of padding a single from outside off was cut off, and the only way to find the fence was to go aerial. In addition to that, even after Latham was well set, India had six men inside the circle, which included a fielder at mid-off instead of long-off. The outside-off line forced Latham to walk across all the time and that's where the change of angle from Axar Patel worked. That was the only time Axar went around the wicket and instead of throwing it outside off, he pitched it towards leg and Latham played down the wrong line.

Bhuvneshwar's tight lines
It's a little difficult for a swing bowler to maintain tight lines but Bhuvneshwar Kumar has shown that he's capable of doing so without comprising on his ability to swing the ball bowl both ways. His beehive from today's match was a testament to his accuracy; most bowling coaches tell you to bowl the length that will make the ball hit the top off stump, and he did that consistently. He dismissed Martin Guptill with a ball that was too close to leave but still a little wide to play at and it moved away after pitching. Against Colin Munro he went around the stumps to bowl bouncers and came back over the stumps with a his knuckle ball that tends to float into the left-hand batsman, which accounted for an inside edge. Even for Henry Nicholls, he used the angle from around the stumps and hit the top of the wicket after going through the gate.

AB de Villiers joins Gayle, Dhoni in six-hitting club

3 - Scores higher bigger than AB de Villiers' 176, his highest, for South Africa in ODIs. Three of the top four scores have come since September 2016. Gary Kirsten's unbeaten 188 against UAE at the 1996 World Cup is still the highest individual ODI score by a South African.

25 - Number of centuries for de Villiers in ODIs. He is the seventh batsmen to score 25 or more ODI centuries and the second from South Africa after Hashim Amla to achieve this feat. Incidentally all his 25 hundreds have come at a strike rate in excess of 100. Six of his tons have come in less than 70 balls.

8 - Those who have ODI tons against all older Full Members (excludes Ireland and Afghanistan). Ricky Ponting, Herschelle Gibbs, Sachin Tendulkar, Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli, Ross Taylor, Upul Tharanga and de Villiers make up the super eight.

201 - Sixes hit by de Villiers in ODIs - the sixth cricketer to get past the 200 mark. He is fifth on the list of most six-hitters in ODIs. Shahid Afridi, Sanath Jayasuriya , Chris Gayle, MS Dhoni and Brendon Mccullum are the other members of this elite list.

2 - Scores bigger than de Villiers' 176 against Bangladesh in ODIs. Charles Coventry's 194* in 2009 and Shane Watson's 185* in 2011 are top the list.

7 - Instances of Bangladesh conceding 350 plus in ODIs. Five of these have come away from home, two of which are against South Africa. This is the first time they have conceded 350 plus since April 2011.

3 - Scores in excess of 300 at Boland Park in Paarl. The average first innings score at this venue in nine previous games is 230. South Africa's 353 on Wednesday is tops the 351 for 3 India made against Kenya was the highest team score at this venue going past the 351 for 3 made by India in 2001.

12 - Century stands between Hashim Amla and de Villiers - the most by any South African pair in ODIs. They went past the 11 century stands put together by Hershcelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith.

India's seven-batsman army didn't work

The pitch at the Barsapara stadium
The surface in Guwahati had a deep-brown look that suggested a lot of moisture. There was also an even covering of grass, which allowed the ball to grip the pitch and move laterally. The toss was critical and Australia did the right thing by choosing to field, after which Jason Behrendorff proved the value of a left-arm seamer. His natural angle - moving away from the right-hand batsman - accounted for Manish Pandey, and deliveries that came in got Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Behrendorff reaped rewards for his fuller length.

India's shot selection
In the first ODI, Pandey had fallen for a duck, nicking a full ball from Nathan Coulter-Nile. In Guwahati, Pandey stayed deep in the crease and was fortunate that Coulter-Nile rarely pitched full. Behrendorff, however, did pitch full and Pandey's front foot went down the pitch instead of towards the ball. He reached out for it with his hands and edged behind. Shikhar Dhawan had spent all but one ball in the first three overs at the non-striker's end, giving him ample time to assess the conditions. So the shot he played to fall to Behrendorff - an attempted chip over the infield - was careless.

Dhoni's footwork
The moisture in the pitch ensured the ball gripped and turned for the legspinner Adam Zampa. MS Dhoni tried to counter this threat by stepping out: in the over that he was eventually dismissed, Dhoni stepped out to Zampa five times. The idea was to force the bowler to shorten the length, which would allow Dhoni the freedom to stay in the crease and score off the back foot. It was interesting that Dhoni chose to step out - sometimes only to defend - to five consecutive balls without waiting on the back foot even once.

Seven-batsmen army
India have been picking seven batsmen in recent limited-overs games, the idea being to have extra firepower to set above-par totals or chase huge targets. It is also insurance against a collapse. The strategy hasn't always worked in ODIs with scores of 300, and even in Guwahati having Hardik Pandya at No. 7 did not prevent India from being dismissed in 20 overs. Playing the extra batsman also leaves you a bowler short, leaving no insurance for a bowler having a bad day. With the kind of batsmen India have, playing five proper bowlers is a tactic worth trying.

The Warner-Finch dismissals & Henriques' promotion
Most of the runs scored on this pitch were off the back foot and that led to Australia's openers being a little too eager. David Warner and Aaron Finch went back to balls that weren't short enough and paid the price. Australia were smart to promote Moises Henriques to no. 3, ahead of Glenn Maxwell. The conditions demanded a more technically sound batsman.

India's bowling plans
Travis Head and Henriques went after the left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and medium-pacer Hardik Pandya. Every time Kuldeep pitched full, which is his strength, both batsmen went really hard at it. He was forced to bowl shorter and, on a slow Guwahati pitch, the ball sat up to be hit. The experience should encourage Kuldeep to expand his repertoire. From time to time, the situation will arise where he needs to bowl quicker and with control.

It was interesting that Kohli did not bowl Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Jasprit Bumrah in the middle overs despite Kuldeep going for plenty. Yes, it would have meant not having their overs at the end, but the only way to fight back was to break the Henriques-Head stand and take more wickets. As it turned out, with Australia winning in the 16th over, neither Bumrah nor Bhuvneshwar bowled their full quota.