IND vs AUS: Marnus Labuschagne shares picture of him tying Hardik Pandya's shoelace

Australia's tour of India will soon come to an end as the two sides are set to face each other in the final game of the tour- the third and final ODI. After winning the four-match Test series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy and retaining the prestigious silverware, the Men in Blue hosted the Aussies for a three-match ODI series.

After winning the first game with sheer ease on a tricky surface of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India suffered their worst ODI defeat against Australia as the visitors thrashed them to win the game by 10 wickets. As a result, the Australian team leveled the series 1-1 to take the contest to the decided game scheduled to be played on Wednesday, March 22.

On Monday (March 20) morning, Australia's Marnus Labuschagne shared a sweet picture of him tying India vice-captain Hardik Pandya's shoe laces from the recently concluded ODI game against the two sides. Since the two players share a common jersey number- 33, he captioned the picture writing "#33" with a handshake emoticon. The picture has garnered over 12000 likes 

Marnus Labuschagne@marnus3cricket

#33 🤝

08:46 AM · Mar 20, 2023

9.8K388

ODI series to witness a decider

Speaking of the ongoing ODI series, India defeated Australia by five wickets in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. On what looked like a difficult surface to bat on, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 108-run partnership helped India chase the target with ease. 

But the hosts could not replicate the same in the next game as the entire batting unit collapsed scoring mere 117 runs. Virat Kohli was the top-scorer for the Men in Blue as he finished with a 35-ball 31 before being dismissed by Nathan Ellis. Mitchell Starc's brilliant five-wicket haul helped Australia take India down in just 26 overs of the first innings.

Aussie openers Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh notched up 51*(30) and 66*(36) completed the chase successfully, which handed the visitors a dominating victory at Visakhapatnam. The two sides will lock horns at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai for the final ODI.