"This is a really big moment for us," Peter Handscomb grinned after Australia successfully - somehow - chased down India's 358 on Sunday.
In a World Cup year, for a white-ball outfit still trying to find the best version of itself, the Mohali result was a "big moment" indeed for Aaron Finch's Australia.
As Shikhar Dhawan (143) and Rohit Sharma (95) pushed India to 193 for no loss in 31 overs, the writing was on the walls for the tourists.
Despite Pat Cummins snagging 5/70, with India ending their 50 overs on 9/358, the writing was still on the wall, but in italics. It was in bold, too, when Finch and Shaun Marsh's castles came crumbling down, Australia 2/12 after nearly four overs.
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From there, it unfolded slowly, but quickly - Handscomb scored his maiden ODI ton, and Usman Khawaja backed up his Ranchi century with 91.
When Ashton Turner went nuts, Australia cantering home with 13 balls to spare, few onlookers could put the result into words.
This was an Australian side that, coming into the match, had won just five of its previous 27 completed 50-over matches, and hadn't won a bilateral ODI series for over two years.
For Handscomb, Sunday's four-wicket victory (regardless of what happens in Delhi) could truly be the spark that lights a World Cup dream - one that could see Australia take it to home favourites England, among others.
"We haven't had too much of a debrief yet but it will be something along the lines of 'Take this belief, take this confidence, this momentum, keep building'," Handscomb told reporters.
"Because what we've done today is something special. This gives us so much confidence. Not only going into the next game, but looking forward to the World Cup.
"To chase down [359] against India in India... this is a really big moment for us and we're really enjoying it."
Australia desperately needs more of that spark. Comfortable 300-plus scores were becoming more rare than a Finch 50-plus score. Even then, he managed a 93 in Ranchi - and despite registering a duck in Mohali, the tide seems to be turning.
For too long, Australia's ODI side has meandered along with little clarity, with bat and ball in hand. Do they go big early with the bat, or were they too afraid of losing wickets? Do they settle in and hope to go big at the end? It was as though no one in the team knew what to do.
As for the bowling, many names have been tossed in the pile to have a crack - but now, even the likes of Starc and Hazlewood could battle to find a place in a team that is slowly working out the basics, led by the unflappable Cummins.
Sweeping the T20 series in India - success punctuated by Cummins' get-out-of-jail effort in Vizag, and Glenn Maxwell's superb chasing ton in Bengaluru - was an early sign on this tour that things were indeeding beginning to click, and Handscomb believes Australia's World Cup bid is gaining momentum at exactly the right time.
"The more pressure you can put yourself under going into a World Cup is great," Handscomb said.
"We're starting to see that guys are learning, guys are more relaxed out there and understanding what they can do within their own game and then executing to their strengths, both with bat and ball. It's very, very good prep.
"If you look at our one-dayers in Australia, we made good progress there, we started to develop our own batting plan or batting signature.
"We keep getting better with each game and we started off nicely with two T20 wins here that gave us a bit of confidence. Then, we were close in the first two [ODIs] and then we're starting to click come these two games and hopefully that builds momentum going forward.
"If you look back on the second T20 as well, where we chased down 189 at Bangalore, that was the start of a little bit of belief there and then to come out and do it again showed it's not a fluke, it's actually a bit of consistency starting to come into this team.
"Going forward this is a big moment, and hopefully we can continue to build on this feeling we've got at the moment."
