Updated: Mar 23, 2023
India vs Australia, 3rd ODI, 2022-23, Top Performances: Hardik Pandya’s 3-44, Adam Zampa’s 4-45 and Ashton Agar’s 2-41 are top performances. India lost Chennai ODI and 1st home ODI series in 4 years.
Brief Scores: Australia 269 (Marsh 47, Carey 38, Hardik 3/44, Kuldeep 3/54) beat India 248 (Kohli 54, Hardik 40, Zampa 4/45) by 21 runs
Player of the Match: Adam Zampa (4/45 in 10 overs)
Player of the Series: Mitchell Marsh (194 runs in three games)
After hosts India’s fighting victory in the first One Day International (ODI), visitors Australia made a brutal comeback in the second ODI with a record 10-wicket win. Both teams locked horns for the third of the three-match ODI series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
India’s top order fail as Suryakumar Yadav ends the series with three golden ducks
Chasing 270, an opening partnership of 65 runs in nine overs was the best platform for India to earn victory in the game but both the openers failed to convert their scores just like the following batters. KL Rahul got out in an attempt to play a big shot at a wrong time while Virat Kohli after getting to 54 failed to take India home.
Suryakumar Yadav was pushed back in the batting order but he had the same result as he registered three consecutive golden duck in the series. The pressure would keep on mounting on him.
Read More: IND v Aus, 2nd ODI, 2022-23: Aus smother India by 10 wickets in Visakhapatnam; series level 1-1
Consistent Australia become top-ranked ODI side with 21-run victory
Australia captain Steven Smith on winning the toss opted to bowl first on a pitch that looked good for batting and was expected to get two-paced in the latter half of the game. After recovering from injury, David Warner and Ashton Agar returned for the tourists in place of Nathan Ellis and Cameron Green while India went with an unchanged eleven.
Deciding to bat first, both Australia openers – Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh – just like the second ODI game, went wild from the very first over to put on 68 runs for the opening wicket before India made a decent comeback to take them down to 138/5 in 28.1 overs. But some handy partnerships from the lower order batters pushed Australia to a good position. They were finally bundled out for 269 in 49 overs.
Chasing 270, India went off to a great start with a 65-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill before Australia made a great comeback with quick wickets. The 69-run stand for the third wicket between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul stabilised them to 146/2 before the tourists picked up four quick wickets to reduce them to 185/6. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja did try for a bit but after their dismissals, Australia took full control by recording a 21-run victory to become the top-ranked ODI team.
This became the first bilateral series loss for India at home after four years.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the third ODI between India and Australia in Chennai.
Hardik Pandya shined with all-round performances of 3/44 and 40 runs
Just like the last game in Visakhapatnam, both the Australia openers – Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh – went off to a flyer to take their side to 61/0 in the first ten overs when Hardik Pandya was introduced into the attack.
After being cracked for a boundary, Pandya drew first blood for India as he broke the 68-run opening stand sending back Head for 33 who in trying to cut the slower ball found the backward point fielder. This was the second time Pandya had Travis Head who scored 21 runs in 14 balls in their face-off.
In his very next over, Hardik caged Steve Smith on a third ball duck who in an attempt to drive Pandya got a faint edge to the hands of the wicketkeeper KL Rahul. This is now the fifth time Hardik has got the better of Smith in ODIs, the second most time a bowler has dismissed Smith in ODIs after Adil Rashid who did it six times.
The biggest scare for India, Marsh was still sending the ball all around the park as he smashed Pandya through square leg for a boundary. But on the very next ball, Pandya sent back Marsh on 47 who in trying to push the ball tentatively got an inside edge onto the stumps. Hardik Pandya who finished with 3/44 in his eight overs, has now 72 ODI wickets in 74 games. He was well supported by Kuldeep Yadav who returned 3/54 in his 10 overs.
With the bat in hand, Pandya also scored crucial 40 runs in 40 balls with the help of three boundaries and one six.
Read More: IND v Aus, 1st ODI, 2022-23: KL Rahul’s fighting 75* rescues India; hosts take 1-0 lead
Ashton Agar put the game in Australia’s court with 2/41
Ashton Agar was the best bowler for Australia in this game but was unlucky in his first nine overs not to get any wicket but he changed the motion of the game in the space of just two balls. He caged Virat Kohli on 54 with a ball that stopped a little to end Kohli’s check drive in the hands of the long-off fielder. This was the second time Agar dismissed Kohli who in 136 balls had just 105 runs in their face-off.
On the very next ball, a skidding delivery took the inside edge of Suryakumar Yadav to break the furniture on his third consecutive golden duck. Agar who finished with 2/41 in 10 overs now has 20 ODI wickets in 21 games.
Read More: Australia lead India 30-29 in ODI matches in India; A look at top games between the 2 sides in India
Adam Zampa changed the fate of the game with 4/45
On a pitch that was assisting the slow bowlers, ace spinner Adam Zampa had a huge job to do. Zampa in his third over sent back Shubman Gill on 37 in 49 balls who in trying to flick the ball for a single was trapped LBW with a beautiful drifter.
Zampa occasionally kept on asking questions to the batters before breaking the good-looking 69-run stand to pocket KL Rahul on 32 in 50 balls who in an attempt to go for a huge six over long-on, found the fielder stationed for the exact shot; this was the fourth time Zampa dismissed Rahul in ODIs in 93 balls besides giving away 79 runs in their face-off.
Coming back for his ninth over, Zampa roped the ‘big fish’, Hardik Pandya on 40 who in trying for a huge shot was caught in the hands of the cover fielder. This is now the fourth time Hardik was dismissed to Zampa in ODIs besides punishing him at 140.8 in the face-off.
Zampa put the final nail in the coffin when he sent back Ravindra Jadeja on 18 who coming down the track looped the ball in the hands of the backward point fielder as Zampa finished with 4/45 in his 10 overs; he now has 131 ODI wickets in 79 games. This became his best ODI figures against India.
Read More: Ind vs NZ, ODIs 2023, Takeaways: India’s upper order fires but middle order seems bogged down
Statistical Highlights from India vs Australia, 3rd ODI, Chennai
- Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav logged their best figures of 3/44 and 3/54 respectively, against Australia in ODIs.
- David Warner now has scored 1013 ODI runs in 21 innings against India at an average of 53.2 including six half centuries and three hundreds.
- Suryakumar Yadav (2023) joins Sachin Tendulkar (1994), Anil Kumble (1996), Zaheer Khan (2003-04), Ishant Sharma (2010-11), Jasprit Bumrah (2017-2019) to register three consecutive ducks in ODIs for India.
What’s Next
After a break of nine days, the T20 madness in India will begin in the form of Indian Premier League (IPL) as the defending champions Gujarat Titans will take on Chennai Super Kings on March 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Read More: Siraj & Kuldeep among top 5 India wicket-takers since 2022; Is the duo a certainty for CWC 2023?
Top Twitter reactions from India vs Australia, 3rd ODI, Chennai
Read More: Australia have definitely found a bankable fast bowling all-rounder in Cameron Green
