Following his side’s 21-run win over India in the third ODI, Australia skipper Steve Smith applauded the tail-end batters for helping the side reach a decent total and added that the tour was an enjoyable one.
Virat Kohli’s half-century went in vain as Adam Zampa’s four-wicket haul and all-round team efforts helped Australia defeat India by 21 runs in the third and last match of the ODI series here at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. “It has been an enjoyable tour. We did not play our best cricket, good enough to get over the line. This wicket was entirely different, we left a few out there with the bat. The spinners bowled beautifully, really good performance. It was a real grind in the field. The way the tail stuck and got us to 269, got us to a nice total,” said Smith in a post-match presentation. With this win, Australia clinched the three-match ODI series by 2-1 This is India’s first series defeat at home since 2019. They had previously lost to Australia as well 3-2 in an ODI series back in March 2019.
After electing to bat first, Australia was bundled out for 269 runs in 49 overs. Openers Travis Head (33) and Mitchell Marsh (47) started off the innings well with a 68-run partnership. But all-rounder Hardik Pandya swung the tide in India’s favour, dismissing both the openers and Steve Smith (0) to reduce visitors to 85/3.
David Warner (23) and Marnus Labuschagne (28) failed to score big. Half of the Aussie lineup was back in the hut for 138 runs.
Following this, wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey (38) and Marcus Stoinis (25) stitched a 58-run stand for the sixth wicket, which was broken by Axar Patel. Sean Abbott (26) and Ashton Agar (17) put on 42 runs for the eighth wicket and this pushed Australia to 269.
Hardik Pandya (3/44) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/56) were impressive with the ball and provided timely breakthroughs. Mohammed Siraj (2/37) and Axar Patel (2/57) also performed well.
In the chase of 270, India was off to a solid start, with openers Rohit Sharma (30) and Shubman Gill (37) playing some aggressive shots and putting on 65 runs for the first wicket.
Following the departure of openers and the score being 77/2, Virat Kohli (54) and KL Rahul (32) put a stand of 69 runs for the third wicket. Virat got out after playing a rash shot, reducing the hosts to 185/5. After this, India continued to lose wickets regularly and despite Hardik Pandya’s knock of 40 runs, they fell 21 runs short of a win. Adam Zampa was the star of Australian bowling, taking 4/45.
