With India wrapping up a 2-1 series win over Australia, the visitors completed what has been their greatest visit Down Under, following on from their Test series triumph.

A welcome return to form for MS Dhoni is just one of many positives for India as they shore up their World Cup preparations, but plenty of questions remain for Australia, who have not won an ODI series in two years. Here are five things we learned from the three-match series.

Australia playing a dated game

Coming into this series, Australia had won just three of their last 21 completed ODIs. They were without their two best ODI batsmen, and their first-choice pace attack, and up against the second-best team in the world.

With all that considered, that Australia won the first game comfortably and came within four balls of winning the second and third ODIs is remarkable. Despite a pre-modern approach to the limited-overs game, they remain a potent threat.

It’s a cliché grounded in truth that you can never count out the Aussies, and they always seem to raise their game for major tournaments. This series they have confirmed that Shaun Marsh is a dependable batsman, and that Peter Handscomb is an adept and adaptable white-ball batsman.

Jhye Richardson has suggested he might just be a world-class ODI quick, and Marcus Stoinis has shown he’s a capable all-rounder. Consider the already proven class of Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch, and add in Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins, and Australia have a potent team.

Ignore the form book; they will be there or thereabouts when it comes to group-stage crunch time, and if they get through to the knockouts, they will have the match-winners with bat and ball to beat anyone on their day. BG