The absence of a frontline spinner means Glenn Maxwell will lead the spin attack again.
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The 27-year-old right-hander became the fastest to score 7,000-runs in one-dayers, taking five less than the 166 innings South African AB de Villiers needed to reach the mark.
Melbourne, Jan 17 The ODI series in their bag, Australian big-hitter Glenn Maxwell today said the hosts are “desperate” to achieve a 5-0 whitewash against India and a 3-0 clean sweep of the subsequent T20 series.
Australia dominated with both bat and ball to defeat India by three wickets in the third One-Day International (ODI) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here on Sunday. Australia won the toss and elected to field, bringing back Mitchell Marsh to the line-up and leaving out Joel Paris.
And last, but definitely not the least, India’s bowling has looked innocuous.
A must-win game for India – who had twice lost after batting first – began badly when Rohit Sharma fell in the fifth over for six, caught behind off Kane Richardson.
After the fall of Dhawan’s wicket, Kohli was involved in another 100-plus run partnership, this time with Ajinkya Rahane, and completed his century in the 43rd over, the 24th ton of his career. While they didn’t lose any more wickets, India could only reach 62/1 in the first 15 overs. Their captain, M.S. Dhoni, did his best to take advantage of their wickets in hand by pounding 22 from nine at the death.
That India still made a fist of it was down to Ravindra Jadeja’s superb spell, aided by Dhoni’s own quicksilver, street-smart glovework. Neither, however, posed a threat with the ball.
Dhawan faced 91 balls and hit 9 boundaries apart from stitching a 119-run partnership with Virat Kohli.
The latter was far more beneficial, as Rahane was able to keep pace with Kohli in a way Dhawan conspicuously struggled with earlier, having scored from only two off his first 21 deliveries.
Australia’s top six all got starts, with George Bailey again impressive despite only scoring 23. In between, Shaun Marsh was out caught pulling off Ishant in the 30th over.
It certainly seemed a hard surface at the start of India’s innings, with Dhawan never really breaking free from the poor form that has dogged him in the past season. Maxwell was playing responsibly in the middle and also saw Matthew Wade going out for just 6.
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The Test skipper, after the departure of Dhawan put up another century plus stand with Ajinkya Rahane (50) to deny the Aussie bowlers, who tried hard to make inroads in the middle overs. A six and a four early in the 49th over took him to 96.
