Australia's Shane Watson rewrites history books with 15 sixes in victory over Bangladesh

The explosive opener gave a superb display of power-hitting as he also cracked 15 fours in his 96-ball knock to help Australia achieve a 230-run target with 24 overs to spare for an unbeatable 2-0 lead.

West Indies' Xavier Marshall was the previous record-holder with 12 sixes against Canada in 2008.

Watson also scored the most runs (150) in boundaries in a one-day innings, breaking South African Herschelle Gibbs's record of 126.

"It was a nice day today as everything came off," said Watson, named man of the match.

"I had no idea (of the sixes record). I was pretty tired and didn't want to run too much. It was pretty hot and humid, so I tried to limit my running and it worked out nicely."

Watson's innings was also the highest by an Australian in one-day internationals, the previous best being 181 not out by Matthew Hayden. He completed his sixth one-day hundred off 69 balls, the third-fastest by an Australian after Hayden (66 balls) and Adam Gilchrist (67). The final one-dayer will be played in Dhaka on Wednesday.

"That's probably the best innings I've seen. He (Watson) hit the ball so cleanly from the start today," said Australia captain Michael Clarke.

Watson looked in excellent touch from the beginning, hammering three fours in the opening over bowled by Shafiul Islam. He raced to his half-century off 26 balls with the help of four sixes and five boundaries.

He then reduced Bangladesh's bowlers and fielders to a state of helplessness with his onslaught, once hitting four sixes in an over from left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo.

Watson dominated an unfinished 170-run stand for the second wicket with former captain Ricky Ponting, who contributed an unbeaten 37.

"He (Watson) batted really well and the credit goes to him," said Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan.

Bangladesh were earlier struggling at 88-5 before crossing the 200 mark, thanks to wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim's unbeaten 81 off 80 balls which contained one six and nine fours.

Rahim's best came in the closing stages of the innings when he smashed two fours and a six off successive deliveries from paceman Brett Lee before hitting two boundaries in seamer Mitchell Johnson's last over.

He played a major role in steadying the innings after Johnson (3-54) and leg-spinner Steven Smith (2-34) had put the hosts in trouble, adding 79 for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Mahmudullah (38).

Shahriar Nafees was the only top-order batsman to offer resistance, scoring 56 off 73 balls with six fours. He fell after completing his 12th half-century in one-dayers, offering a simple return catch to Smith.

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Shane Warne denies interest in taking over as India's coach

Shane Warne has expressed his surprise after reports in India quoted him as saying he was interested in replacing Gary Kirsten as coach of the national side.

Kirsten stepped down from the role after leading India to their second World Cup title in Mumbai, while Warne is in India preparing for the Indian Premier League, where he is captain-coach of the Rajasthan Royals.

Warne earned plaudits for guiding the unfancied franchise to the inaugural IPL title three years ago and, while it remains his only coaching role, he has been touted as a potential India coach before.

The Mail Today newspaper quoted Warne as saying: "It is a very difficult job to be India coach, it is never easy. But with India doing so well, it is a lot easier to take over right now than it has been in the past.

"I'll enjoy working with the Indian cricket team for sure."

However, responding via Twitter, Warne said his quotes had been misinterpreted. Warne wrote: "Just got told on bus - apparently I put my hand up to coach India. Wow – first I have heard of it. Sorry to disappoint but never said that!!!"

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Shane Warne: let Ricky Ponting be the judge of when he should retire from international cricket with Australia

There are only three options: for him to remain as captain, to resign and continue only as a player, or no more Ricky Ponting.

One thing is certain, Ricky deserves to go out in the manner of his own choosing and I would wait a while for the dust to settle before anyone makes a big decision.

He will want to discuss with the players and the people he respects before coming up with the right answer. Only Ricky Ponting knows what that answer will be.

When you are in the middle of a series or tournament, surrounded by players and in the team environment you never look at it with an outsider’s view. You don’t listen to the media and you don’t think 'this could be my last game’.

The only factors to concentrate on are your own form and game. That is not to say retirement is not at the back of your mind. There are moments when you think about what is the right thing to do and you want to go out on your own terms and on a high. That will be uppermost in Ricky’s thoughts.

He has been around long enough and will have an instinct about what to do. But there are two factors – the heart and mind. If both are saying the same thing then it is easy to make the right decision. If he has conflict, that is when he will need to sit back and take stock to work out what is the best way forward.

As a player your main concern is that you must be good enough to be picked in the team on performance. Then it is about whether you have the energy, drive and patience to put in the work and amount of time required to stay at the top.

One question you need to ask yourself whatever you are doing in life is 'am I enjoying myself?’ If you are not enjoying what you are doing it is time to do something else. If the answer is 'yes’ and it still feels like you can perform and have something to offer then there is no reason to go anywhere.

When you retire as a player who has achieved and been one of the greats like Ricky, it is not easy to let go of something that has been a big part of your life for 15 years. The reason I retired is because the enjoyment stopped. It was not just about playing cricket. It was about time away from family, friends and living a certain lifestyle after 20 years of first-class cricket.

I was not prepared to put in the hours of sponsors’ appearances, scrutiny and judgment or getting up to play day in day out when your body is hurting and sore. I never saw cricket as a job. It was a hobby to me. My most important job was to be the best father I could possibly be to my children. Anyone who plays cricket at any level probably thinks “how can you not enjoy it?”

Playing cricket for Australia should be fun but if it becomes a grind and you don’t want to go to work, because that is the way you suddenly see it, then it is time to do something different.

A lot of great players do not go out on their own terms. That leads to a bit of regret and frustration. But when people go out on top there is satisfaction and the best piece of advice I received when thinking about retirement came from Ian Chappell. His words were “The only hint I will give you is to make sure they say to you 'why are you retiring?’ rather than 'why don’t you retire?’.” Once he said that I thought 'yes I am doing the right thing’.

Ricky’s future is part of a wider debate for Australian cricket. There is a bit of soul searching and honesty to be addressed by every player, selector, coach and Cricket Australia.

There is no disgrace losing to India in India. Their only two defeats in the World Cup were against a Pakistan team on fire and India so there is no shame in the way they played in the sub-continent and we do not need to make rash decisions right now. We can wait until after the short tour of Bangladesh in early April.

But if you put this World Cup performance in context of the Australian summer of losing the Ashes then soon we will have to sit down and have a good chat about the future to work out the best way to regain the number one spot in the world.

Who are the players, leaders, coaching staff to steer the team in the future? There are two ways to go. Don’t change a thing or, after a break, regroup and strive to improve.

Let’s have a chat with the right people and work out not what is best for players, selectors or coaching staff but the right thing for Australian cricket.

Australia have led the world in preparation, processes and domestic cricket. Those things have held Australian cricket in good stead for a long time but nobody stays number one forever. Other teams have just caught up.

Now we have to decide if it is time to inject different people or different tactics. Those are questions that need to be answered but not in a blind panic. Australian cricket must weigh it all up after some time out.

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