The third ODI of the series between Australia and India saw India batting first after Virat Kohli won the toss at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. India has already lost the series 2-0, losing both the first games in Sydney.
India made four changes, bringing in Shubman Gill for Mayank Agarwal, Kuldeep Yadav for Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur for Mohammad Shami, and gave T Natarajan his ODI debut in place of Navdeep Saini.
Australia also brought in Sean Abbott for Mitchell Starc, Ashton Agar and handed an ODI debut to Cameron Green.
India had a similar start with Dhawan falling to Abbott for 16 runs, while Gill looked good for his 33. But he fell to Agar, trying the sweep shot. Shreyas Iyer’s poor run of form continued, as he was dismissed by Zampa for 19 runs.
Virat Kohli made a sublime 63 runs, also reaching the 12,000-run mark in ODIs, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of being the fastest batsman to do so in his 242nd innings and 251st match.
AUS v IND 2020-21: WATCH – T Natarajan receives his maiden ODI cap from Virat Kohli
However, when he fell to Hazlewood and Rahul was trapped LBW by Agar for 5, it seemed India will fall short of a competitive total at 152/5 in 32 overs.
But then Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja got together and rebuilt the innings over by over. However, in the last 10 overs, both freed their hands and took Australian bowlers to the cleaners. India had reached 200 in the 42nd over, but they ended up making 302/5 in 50 overs.
Hardik remained unbeaten on 92 in 78 balls with 7 fours and 1 six, while Jadeja made 66* in 50 balls with 3 sixes and 5 fours. The duo added 150* runs in 18 overs. It was a wonderful recovery from India, thanks to the two all-rounders.
The cricket fraternity lauded both Hardik and Jadeja for their brilliant batting in the later overs and their rebuilding job, enabling India to put up a competitive score.
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