Skipper Virat Kohli has had a torrid time with the toss during the ODI series against Australia and Sunday’s series deciding 3rd ODI in Bengaluru was no different. Having called the right side of the coin yet again, Aaron Finch elected to bat first.
Mohammed Shami got the first breakthrough in the fourth over, dismissing David Warner for 3.
Confusion between Steve Smith and Finch resulted in the furious Australian captain being run out – Australia 46/2 in the 9th over.
Smith made up for the run out however with a well made century, and together with Marnus Labuschagne, pulled Australia out of trouble.
It was not an easy pitch to bat on but Smith’s 131 off 132 balls and Labuschagne’s 54 off 64 balls meant that Australia looked like they were pushing towards a big total.
However, the Indian bowlers kept a firm hold over the scoring rate and didn’t allow the visitors to run away with proceedings – Australia scoring 286/9 in their 50 overs.
With Shikhar Dhawan injured while fielding, India were on the backfoot at the start of the innings as KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma began the chase.
In the thirteenth over, Ashton Agar dismissed Rahul (19 off 27 balls) and then he along with Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood tightened the screws, conceding just 35 runs in the next 10 overs.
But Hitman Rohit and skipper Kohli were in no mood to let Australia dictate the game.
Despite the slow pitch, Rohit brought up his century, with India’s score only on 154, hitting six sixes and eight fours in his innings.
Zampa brought his innings to a close at 119 off 128 balls.
By then India needed 81 off 80 balls and Kohli was going great guns at the other end.
The skipper, with 89 off 91 balls, and Shreyas Iyer (44 off 35 balls) took India home with 15 balls to spare, winning the ODI series 2-1.
