Australian captain Aaron Finch was pleased with his team’s performance on Wednesday (December 2) despite suffering a narrow 13-run defeat in the third and final ODI against India in Canberra.
He pointed out that Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja’s record unbeaten 150-run partnership for the sixth wicket was the difference between India and Australia in the third ODI as the Men in Blue posted over 300 runs in 50 overs and then cumulative bowling efforts restricted the hosts to 289 in 49 overs.
However, Australia has clinched the ODI 2-1 series against Team India having already comprehensively won the first two ODIs of the series and for Finch, it matters the most that the hosts responded well despite a couple of changes in the XI for the Canberra ODI.
The captain said he was happy with the fight his team put up in Canberra despite the absence of senior players like injured David Warner and the pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins against India.
Finch said after the final ODI: “We fought really well today, just fell a little short. Obviously great partnership between Hardik and Jadeja, we might have been in a good position if we'd nabbed one of them early. I thought Cameron Green came in and made an impact with ball and bat, and showed he belongs at the international level.”
He added, “Ashton Agar played well too, so it was good to get them in and get some information on them. It's nice when guys in the top order have really good contributions, and then Maxy can come in and do his thing in the back end. I thought Alex Carey, Moises, these guys did well too.”
The skipper was also hopeful that Starc would be fit for the T20I series beginning on Friday. Finch signed off by saying, “Hopefully he's (Starc) ready for the T20Is. It was just a niggle.”
(With India Today Inputs)
