Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja's partnership of 150* (108) and wickets at regular intervals helped India win the 3rd ODI against Australia
The second half of India's batting and fighting spirit shown during the bowling innings, helped the men in blue to manage a 13-run win against the rampaging Australian team in the final of the three-match ODI series.
After being on 152-5 in 32 overs, India needed a booster shot to get their innings back on track. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja joined hands to provide that and took India to a competitive total on a much better bowler friendly wicket.
After which, India kept chipping away at the Australian wickets and didn't let any partnership to blossom for long. In the end, a good spell from Shardul Thakur and wickets from T Natarajan and Jasprit Bumrah helped India to dismiss the Aussie side for 289, thereby winning the game with 3 balls to spare.
1. Debutants prove their worth
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The third game started with caps being distributed in both the camps. While, India handed a debut to the left-arm seamer from Chinnappampatti in Tamil Nadu - T Natarajan, who was drafted into the ODI side as a cover for Navdeep Saini; Australia gave ODI cap to West Australian all-rounder Cameron Green.
Natarajan, who was first picked as the reserve bowler for the tour, made entry into the T20I squad in place of Varun Chakravarthy. He bore fruits of consistent performances for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, after being spotted at TNPL. Green, on the other hand, on the back of consistent performances for his side in Sheffield Shield received maiden call-up into the Australian limited-overs and test squads.
Natarajan provided the first breakthrough for the Indians, getting Marnus Labuschagne out cheaply inside the powerplay. Although, he did go for a few runs, he came back to take wicket of Ashton Agar to seal the deal for team India.
Green impressed with both the bat and the ball. For a medium-pacer, he clocked speeds around 140kph and beat Indian skipper Virat Kohli's bat, a few times. He looked much more assured with the bat in hand. He made a confident21 (27) and looked liked he belonged, hitting one six and one four. (Image: Twitter/Cricket Australia/BCCI)
2. Virat Kohli breached 12,000-run mark in ODIs
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Even though team India skipper Virat Kohli didn't look his fluent best in the three-match series, he managed to break a few record for sure. During his innings of 63 (78) in the third game, Virat Kohli breached the 12,000-run mark in One-day internationals.
Kohli achieved the feat by scoring the 23rd run of his innings and thereby became the fastest player to do so. He is the sixth player in history to score 12,000-plus runs in the format after the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Ricky Ponting, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene.
However, Kohli reached the milestone in just 242 innings, 58 less than Tendulkar, who completed the feat in 300 innings. (Image: Virat Kohli/BCCI/Twitter)
3. The Hardik-Jadeja booster shot
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India were reeling at 152-5 in 32 overs and were in a desperate need of a good and quick partnership to take them to a competitive total. Given, the amount of runs Australian batsmen had piled on in the first two games, India knew they had to have a score in excess of 300, to challenge the formidable unit.
Ravindra Jadeja was tentative at the start but got the time to settle in as Hardik kept the scorecard ticking from the other end. Once their eyes were set, both started feasting on Australia's not-so-great bowling at the death.
Sean Abbott, playing an ODI after a while for his side, became the bunny of the damaging duo as he leaked a lot of runs. First Hardik smashed him for two fours and a six, getting 17 in an over. Jadeja, then smashed three fours and a six to get 19.
The duo ended with an unbeaten partnership of 150 runs in just 18 overs, to take their team's score beyond 300, which eventually proved to be enough. (Image: Hardik Pandya/Ravindra Jadeja/Twitter)
4. Thakur takes big scalp of Steve Smith
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Shardul Thakur, one of the four changes that India made in the final game, proved his worth instantly. Coming in place of Navdeep Saini, Thakur asked the right questions from the Australian batsmen and used the wicket to his advantage bowling the cross-seam deliveries and using his pace variations.
India, who were bereft of early wickets in the last two games, got not just one, but two early ones. The second was the biggest, one of Steve Smith, who was coming off from twin centuries in the last two games.
In the 12th over of the game, Thakur bowled a shorter delivery down the leg-stump, which Smith tried to work it very fine. Instead, it took a thick outside edge and KL Rahul didn't make the mistake behind the stumps. (Image: BCCI/Twitter)
5. Big fish - The wicket of Big-Show
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Even though, India kept the wicket count rolling, Glenn Maxwell was fighting the battle hard. After losing five wickets, Australia looked in all sorts of trouble and it looked like India would wrap this pretty quickly.
However, Ashton Agar and Maxwell had other plans. The left-arm spin all-rounder provided an able support to Maxwell and played second-fiddle to him, very efficiently. The duo constructed a partnership of 58 runs in quick time and was threatening to take the game away from the men in blue as they required just 35 runs off the last 34 balls.
India and skipper looked towards Jasprit Bumrah again for a breakthrough and he didn't disappoint. Bumrah went full and straight to Maxwell, who had made room to hit through the off-side. He missed and India started to believe again.
After that wicket, it was just a matter of time as India wrapped the Aussie innings for 289, completing a 13-run win. (Image: Twitter)
6. Commanding Aussies win the series 2-1
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India salvaged their pride by winning the dead rubber third ODI, however, Australia deservedly laid their hands on the Dettol ODI Trophy as they were outstanding throughout the series.
Australia won the first two games, rather comfortably by 66 runs and 51 runs, respectively. Australia's strong batting line-up deflated the Indian bowling attack, which didn't look in any rhythm at all.
Steve Smith with his centuries, Glenn Maxwell with his quickfire knocks and skipper Aaron Finch with his two knocks starred in Australia's wins. India did show fight in both the games but chasing 370-plus scores doesn't get easy when the team keeps losing wickets.
While, Australia will look to maintain this in the T20I series as well, India, on the otehr hand, would want to carry their momentum from the 3rd ODI forward into the T20I series, starting on Friday. (Image: Cricket Australia/Twitter)
