But then he took 15 runs off the 43rd over by Yadav changing the momentum of the game.
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Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Faulkner got the single that Australia needed.
In this series, Rohit has already broken a couple of records.
Those with only a passing interest in cricket who stumbled on Sunday’s third one-dayer on TV could have been excused for thinking Channel Nine had resorted to showing repeats. I felt I was hitting the ball nicely but just couldn’t hit it in the gaps.
Today is India’s last chance to salvage any hopes of turning the tables in this ongoing five-match series. Dhoni was absent from that summer tour to Zimbabwe, and as such now has back-to-back defeats.
But consistency is something which Dhoni would look for from bowling attack. He too attributed India’s loss to their failure to take wickets during Australia’s mid-innings.
India once again batted first against Australia but their centurion of the previous two ODIs Rohit Sharma failed to repeat the feat in Melbourne and was out after scoring only six runs. In the process, Kohli went past 7000 ODI runs as he overtook AB de Villiers to become the fastest to get to the milestone in terms of ODI innings. From there onwards, India struggled to get away in the death overs, despite Rahane bringing up his 14th ODI fifty in the 41st over earlier.
Despite spinners Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja going for a combined 3-239 in their 37 overs to date this series, Dhoni did not entertain replacing either with uncapped allrounder Rishi Dhawan in Melbourne.
“We will wait and watch and see what the best position for him is”.
What now makes a winning ODI total?
The explosive Glenn Maxwell (26), who joined Bailey at the fall of Smith, added 65 runs for the fourth wicket to seal the match in favour of the hosts.
With Josh Hazlewood being rested for the rest of Australia’s home summer, John Hastings has taken the opportunity with both hands. “Throughout the Big Bash they’ve actually had a bit more pace in them than usual”, he said on Saturday when the team arrived in Melbourne from Brisbane.
With Mitchell Marsh back in the squad, Richardson could make way for the all-rounder.
In the middle overs, Australia lost Shaun Marsh, George Bailey, Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade as India made a comeback to make it anybody’s game.
So now, as a team we have to win irrespective of which department has not been doing well. We need to capitalise more in the second half of the batting.
The white-ball wickets have been fantastic at the MCG this year, throughout the Big Bash.
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“It will be another high-scoring affair…” If we bowl first, try to contain them to around 300. Apart from bowlers’ failure, the poor show of the middle order sticks out like a sore thumb and more so when it has Mahendra Singh Dhoni in it, once known to be world’s best finisher.
