Virat Kohli’s half-century innings and Hardik Pandya’s combativeness also could not win the Indian cricket team against Australia in the third and decisive match played at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. Australia defeated India by 21 runs in this match. With this, Australia won the three-match ODI series 2-1. The Australian team, batting first, was all out for 269 runs in 49 overs. The Indian team was all out for 248 runs in 49.1 overs.
India won the first match played in Mumbai. After this, India had to face defeat in the second ODI played in Visakhapatnam and Australia levelled the series 1-1. For this reason the third match became decisive in which Australia won. With this victory, the Australian team has also become the number-1 team in ODIs.
Also read : IPL FLASHBACK : 2014 FINAL KINGS XI PUNJAB VS KKR
Looking at the pitch, this target was looking difficult and in such a situation, India needed a good start. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave a good start to the team and added 65 runs for the first wicket. But then both the batsmen got out in quick succession. First Rohit Sharma returned to the pavilion on a personal score of 30. Then Adam Zampa showed Gill (37) the way to the pavilion. Here Virat Kohli and KL Rahul handled the situation and shared a 69-run partnership for the third wicket. Rahul was playing well but then he was caught by Sean Abbott off Zampa in an attempt to play a big shot. Rahul scored 32 runs in 50 balls. His innings included two fours and a gorgeous straight six off Starc.
After Rahul, Akshar Patel (2) was also run out in a mix up with Kohli and with this, India’s score became four wickets for 151 runs. Meanwhile, Kohli was solid on the wicket. He completed his half-century. But after that he was dismissed on the first ball of the 36th over by Ashton Agar for 54 . He hit two fours and a six in 72 balls. On its next ball, Agar bowled Suryakumar. This is the third consecutive time in this series when Suryakumar got out without opening an account.
From here the team was in danger of defeat. Hardik Pandya again fought and along with Ravindra Jadeja kept the team in the match. Both of them added 33 runs but Pandya got out in an attempt to play a big shot off Zampa’s ball. He scored 40 runs in 40 balls with the help of three fours and one six. Zampa dismissed Jadeja. Jadeja scored 18 runs. India’s defeat was decided from here. Marcus Stoinis bowled Mohammed Shami. He scored 14 runs. Kuldeep scored six runs and India fell 21 runs short.
Earlier , Australia won the toss and decided to bat first in this match. Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head gave a good start to the team and added 68 runs for the first wicket. As soon as the pair broke, the Australian innings started to disintegrate. Hardik Pandya first gave the first blow to Australia by dismissing the Head. Head scored 33 runs off 31 balls. Then by dismissing Steve Smith(0) , Hardik gave India another huge success. It was Pandya who sent Mitchell Marsh to the pavilion. Marsh scored another fluent 47 runs in 47 balls with the help of eight fours and a six.
Take part in interesting online quizzes
Kuldeep later made David Warner his victim. Warner’s wicket, who scored 23 runs, fell on a total score of 125. Kuldeep then dismissed Marnus Labuschagne (28) on a total score of 138. Marcus Stoinis scored 25 runs and became the victim of Akshar Patel. Kuldeep Yadav bowled Alex Carey to end his useful innings of 38 runs.
After Carey’s wicket, Australia’s score was 203 runs at the loss of seven wickets and it seemed that this team would be all out soon. But the lower order took the team to a respectable score. Shaun Abbott played an inning of 26 runs off 23 balls, hitting two fours and a six. Agar scored 17 runs. Mitchell Starc scored 10 runs. Zampa was dismissed after scoring 10 runs. Pandya and Kuldeep took three wickets each for India. Mohammad Siraj and Akshar Patel got two wickets each.
India’s chase could not be successful as the Aussie spinners got the measure of the top Indian batters and finally restricted the hosts to 248 in commendable fashion .
Adam Zampa for his 4 wickets was the man if the match while Mitch Marsh for his consistent power hitting and prolific scores was the player of the series .