An all-around performance helped India beat Australia by 13 runs in the final ODI at Canberra on Wednesday. Going into this match, both teams had a player making their ODI debut. Australia had already sealed the series.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and made four changes. It was known that Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal would be dropped and Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav would replaced them. However, the dropping of Mohammed Shami and Mayank Agarwal surprised many. Shubman Gill and debutant T Natarajan were brought in for them.
Shikhar Dhawan and Gill opened for India, but Dhawan was dismissed soon for 16 runs. Gill and Kohli stitched a well-tailored 62 run partnership before the former was dismissed for 33 runs while trying to sweep Ashton Agar. Shreyas Iyer walked in but was out for 19 runs by leggie Adam Zampa. KL Rahul was dismissed cheaply for 5 runs. However, Kohli went on to score a fine 63 runs off 78 balls and in the process, he broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record and became the fastest to 12,000 ODI runs. However, Kohli was dismissed for the third time in this series by Josh Hazlewood and India were reeling at 152-5 at 32-over mark. It was Hardik Pandya (92 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (66 not out) who took India to 302-5. The duo put on an unbroken 150 run partnership and scored 93 runs in the last 7 overs.
Australia missed Cummins and Starc’s presence during the first innings. With David Warner injured, Cameron Green made his debut, while Sean Abbot and Agar returned to the side. Hazlewood was brilliant with bowl and well supported by Agar and Zampa.
Aaron Finch was joined by Marnus Labuschagne at the start of the chase, but in the fifth over, Natarajan got his maiden ODI wicket as Labuschagne dragged one on to the stumps. The dangerous Steve Smith then joined Finch but was dismissed cheaply for 7 runs by Thakur. Moises Henriques put on a 61 run stand with Finch before Thakur dismissed the former. Finch continued attacking and had luck riding his way with two drop catches and a missed run out chance. He went on to score 75 off 82 balls before Jadeja got him out. Australia missed a trick as Glenn Maxwell was demoted and Alex Carey joined Green in the middle. Green was dismissed by Kuldeep for 21 runs. Maxwell walked in and after a watchful start, took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners. India needed to break the Maxwell-Carey's 52 run partnership but it was a mix-up between the two that cost Carey his wicket. Maxwell went on to score his second consecutive half century before being cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah. Once Maxwell was dismissed, Thakur, Natarajan and Bumrah ran through the Australian tail, bowling them out for 289.
Pandya was the Man of the Match and Smith bagged the Man of the Series. Australia won the series 2-1. India will take on Australia on Friday in the first T20I at Sydney.
