Former India pacer Zaheer Khan said that KL Rahul's wicket was the turning point in the third and final ODI against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday (March 22).
Chasing a target of 270 runs, Team India looked in great control with KL Rahul (32) and Virat Kohli (54) trying to take the game deep with a 69-run stand between them for the third wicket, but Adam Zampa managed to break the partnership and bring Australia back in the game.
Zampa dismissed Rahul, which led to the fall of wickets as the Men in Blue failed to stitch a big partnership and they eventually bundled out for 248—losing the series decider by 21 runs and the home series 1-2 to Australia on Wednesday.
Zaheer Khan said on Cricbuzz: “For the larger part of the chase, India was controlling. I think it (was) just KL Rahul's wicket at that stage was maybe the start of the turning point because that is when Akshar (Patel) walked in, then he got run out. Then Hardik (Pandya) and Virat (Kohli) tried to steady the ship again, which put pressure on Virat as well.”
The former pacer added, “He had to again change the gear and then look to consolidate. We did mention that (on) Chennai kind of a pitch, one wicket can bring two and that really adds the pressure. You got to push the game as deep as possible. That is something which was missing.”
He signed off by saying, “There was some anxiety. Maybe it was just creating that move on a tad early maybe because just before KL Rahul got out, he was starting to play big shots forcefully.”
With this victory and the series win, Australia also dethroned India to become the new no.1 ranked ODI team.
