3rd ODI: Australia gets home by 32 runs vs India

Ranchi (IANS): India skipper Virat Kohli’s (123 off 95) gritty century went in vain as India suffered a 32-run defeat against Australia in the third contest of the five-match rubber at the JSCA stadium here on Friday. Despite this loss, India still maintains a 2-1 lead in the series.

Brief Scores: Australia 313/5 (Usman Khawaja 104, Aaron Finch 93; Kuldeep Yadav 3/64) beat India 281 all out (Virat Kohli
123, Vijay Shankar 32; Pat Cummins 3/37) by 32 runs. Australia were close in the first two ODIs but today they have managed to cross
the line and in the process, have shown the cracks in India’s line-up. The opening partnership, especially Dhawan, is struggling, the
number four slot is back in question and what is the role of Jadeja in this team. Is he a bowler who can bat a bit? Or considered as a genuine all-rounder?.

India need to answer these questions in the next two ODIs and it won’t be easy as the series is at stake and they can’t afford slip ups. It will be interesting to see how they respond. Finch: It was a pretty good performance by our guys. To get 300 on that wicket was really good batting performance. The way we bowled up front, we put the squeeze on and got three big wickets. It was nice (opening stand) and I think it is important, especially in these conditions we know how hard it is for guys to come in and score quickly in the middle overs. It was important that Usman and I kept going as deep as we could and allow Maxi to come in and play the way he does, Stoinis too. I have been training really hard and working on my game as hard as I possibly can. I have always had the faith I would get some runs. It was nice to start us off with a good partnership and set up what was a defendable total.

Usman played a fantastic knock and Zamps bowled well. I think Jhye was standout with the ball too. To be able to put pressure on world class players and to get wickets on a wicket which was easy to score with the new ball. The work he did was outstanding and Patty Cummins was at his best again.