Australia v India 3rd ODI – 5 Talking Points

After chasing down two 300 plus totals in the series, Australia successfully completed their third consecutive chase to win the all-important third ODI and seal the series 3-0. India asked Australia to chase 296 after being put into bat by Steven Smith.

The Indian bowlers showed some fight in this match but failed to defend the competitive total yet again. Indians were in the game for a while when Jadeja stunned the Australians with two quick wickets of George Bailey and Steven Smith. However, the bowlers faltered when it mattered the most as Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner batted together till the end and helped Australia reach home safely and win the series. Here are the 5 talking points of the match.

1. Virat becomes the fastest to 7000 runs and 24 ODI centuries:

Virat Kohli was yet the batting star for India. Kohli came in to bat after India had lost an early wicket. He batted freely and no Australian bowler had any success in troubling him in any way today. Kohli was involved in two vital partnership. Firstly, he stitched up a 119 runs stand with Dhawan and later batted brilliantly with Ajinkya Rahane to help India reach a comfortable position in the first innings.

2. Ravindra Jadeja strikes in the middle overs:

Spinners’ inability to take wickets in the middle overs was a concern for India in the last two ODIs. Ravichandran Ashwin’s exclusion from the playing XI for Rishi Dhawan only solidified the fact that two spinners strategy that was to apply on Australian grounds. However, Ravindra Jadeja surprised everybody when he removed both George Bailey and Steven Smith. The breakthroughs brought India into the driver’s seat and there was a brief phase when the run-flow and screws tightened up. Jadeja was exceptional today and ended with impressive figures of 2/49.

3. Australian middle order gets exposed:

The Australian middle order came into play for the first time in the series. However, the untested middle order was exposed when Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade departed one after another. Steven Smith and George had rare failure today considering their outstanding show in the previous game. The onus was on the middle order to carry forward the chase. But, that really didn’t happen and Australia found themselves on the back foot for a brief period in the match before Maxwell came and stole the show.

4. Glenn Maxwell’s rescues act:

The middle order was crumbling towards a slump. However, Glenn Maxwell played a match winning knock of 96 from 83 balls to help Australia smoothly sail to victory. Maxwell was at the other end when he saw Wade and Marsh depart in no time. Maxwell needed a stable partner with whom he could take Australia past the victory line. And, James Faulkner played that role perfectly. Both stitched a match-winning stand of 80 runs which effortlessly knocked out India out of the game.

5. Indian bowlers failure to cease the moment:

If India could win any of the three games thus far in the series, it was this one. They had the runs, they picked the wickets and there was the pressure of the required run-rate as well. A tight over that escalated the pressure was eased out in the next by some careless bowling. If Ishant bowled a tight one Umesh loosened things, when Jadeja dried it up Sran went gave away easy pickings; this certainly helped Maxwell and Faulkner and ensured there was no twist in the tale.

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