IND vs AUS, 3rd ODI: Kohli's Fifty in Vain as Australia Defeat India by 21 Runs to Clinch Series 2-1

Team India on Wednesday lost the third and final ODI against Australia by 21 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. After going 1-0 down in the series, the Steve Smith-led side made a stunning comeback, winning the last two encounters to clinch the 3-match series 2-1. With this remarkable victory, Australia dethroned India to become the no.1 team in the ICC ODI rankings.

India vs Australia 3rd ODI Highlights

India went off to a decent start in the pursuit of 270 with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill going all gun blazing against the Australian bowling attack. They dealt in boundaries and sixes to bring up a fifty-run partnership in the first 8 overs. But just an over later, the Aussies found the opening breakthrough when Sean Abbott removed the Indian skipper for 30. The 65-run opening partnership was breached with the focus light shifting to Virat Kohli.

As Kohli started to anchor the chase, India suffered another blow 13^th over. Adam Zampa came to bowl his third over and trapped Shubman Gill in front. It wasn’t given by the on-field umpire initially but the Australians went for the DRS which help them take another step close to victory.

The match turned out to be an anti-climax in the final 15 overs as Australian spinners Adam Zampa (4/45) and Ashton Agar (2/41 in 10 overs) snared as many six Indian wickets, giving away only 86 runs in the 20 overs between them.

The Chepauk track got slower and slower and post 35th over in the Indian innings, it became very difficult to hit the big strokes.

Once Zampa bowled a couple of googlies to force Hardik Pandya (40 off 40 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (1 off 33 balls) hit against the turn, the writing was on the wall.

It was Zampa’s best figures against India and he certainly was the hero for the Aussies.

Incidentally, Australia were the last international team to beat India in a bilateral ODI series back in 2019. The score-line back then was 3-2. Since that series defeat four years back, India have won seven back-to-back bilateral ODI rubber at home.

It was three games in a row that the Indian top-order flattered to deceive and that too in home conditions. They could have been blanked 3-0 in the series had Australia scored at least 235 in the opening ODI.

The highest run-getter for India in the series was KL Rahul with 116 runs and that tells the story.

Between overs 35 to 43, India managed only 31 runs and that was where the game turned on its head.

From 146 for 2, India had slumped to 185 for 6 when Pandya and Jadeja joined forces with the Australian close-in fielders making it infinitely difficult.

But Pandya, however, maintained a 100-plus strike-rate despite tight bowling by the opposition.

Earlier, a fine opening spell by Pandya and a probing effort by Kuldeep Yadav put a tight leash around the Australian batters before its tail wagged considerably to take the visitors to a fighting 269 all out in 49 overs after opting to bat first.

The five wickets added 131 to keep Australia in the game.

While Pandya (3/44 in 8 overs) shaved off the top half, Kuldeep’s (3/56 in 10 overs) rhythm and guile on a helpful Chennai track was the biggest takeaway as the latter’s delivery to remove Carey was the ball of the series.

(With PTI Inputs)

Get the latest Cricket News here