Canberra(SunstarTV Bureau): India won the last match of India-Australia ODI series, by setting a target of 305 runs with a loss of 5 wickets.
India had won the toss and opted to bat first in the third and final ODI against Australia. The bowlers stole the show by taking all the wickets in 49.3 allowing Australia to score 289. Shardul Thakur added three wickets to his name. Whereas, Jasprit Bumrah and T Natarajan settled with 2 wickets each.
Hardik Pandya, bagged the Man-of-the-match title by recording 92 runs in 76 balls. While Ravindra Jadeja batted 66, skipper Virat Kohli scored 63- being the fastest batsman to score 12,000 runs.
With the three-match series already decided in the favour of Australia, India was only playing for the pride when they locked horns against the hosts in the third and final ODI today. Australia had already won the series with two convincing wins.
In both the games, the hosts thoroughly outplayed the visitors to seal the series with a match remaining. In the series-opener, Australia beat India by 66 runs before winning the second game by 51 runs. India’s bowlers had performed terribly so far while the batsmen had also failed to capitalise on the starts.
The Men in Blue were desperate to register a win today in order to gain the momentum ahead of the three-match T20I series.
Steven Smith, on winning Man of the Series said, “They have been close back to back games. A good series of cricket against a quality outfit. I think it did more with the new ball. The quicks bowled well upfront, it was a bit different as compared to the SCG. You just got to keep going forward and take the confidence. Hopefully I’ll contribute in the upcoming games. Don’t have any plan (tomorrow) at the moment, hopefully a day off.”
Hardik Pandya, won Man of the Match tag. He told,“ I will be fine to play the T20Is. I have been working hard to play for my country, happy that I’ve got the opportunity. Really happy for Natarajan and rest of the bowlers. It’s been quite a story for him. You need to be on your toes when it comes to playing against Australia. You got to push hard and face the challenge against them.”
Playing elevens:
India:
Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, T Natarajan
Australia:
Aaron Finch(c), Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques, Alex Carey(w), Cameron Green, Ashton Agar, Sean Abbott, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
