It was Steve Smith and George Bailey at Perth. The three overs after Shaun Marsh was dismissed were taken for 27 runs. It was Glenn Maxwell at Melbourne. The early loss of Rohit Sharma, who scored hundreds at both the WACA and the Gabba, perked Australia up, but Kohli played the anchor role this time with 117 off 117 deliveries. Although Maxwell didn’t go hammer and tongs from the very beginning, there were glimpses of his hitting ability.
Advertisement
Yadav, Ishant and Jadeja shared six wickets equally. Maxwell played the best innings of the match, counter-punching under pressure, keeping calm, and guiding Australia home.
If India could win any of the three games thus far in the series, it was this one.
Singh put down a simple catch of Finch in the sixth over.
Shaun Marsh was in his groove quickly during a 48-run opening stand, before he was joined by captain Smith for an additional 60.
However, Maxwell stayed in control and gradually lifted the scoring with a mixture of audacious boundaries and quick running. Mitchell Marsh aimed to quell India’s fightback with some attacking batting. Dhoni said that losing the series wasn’t the biggest disappointment as all three games were closely fought. Maxwell held his nerve for a vital half-century, this after Matthew Wade lost his cool to sky a catch off Sharma.
But they still had Maxwell to contend with.
Kohli, who has been in top form recently, had scores of 91 and 59 in the first two ODIs.
Hastings, who finished with a career-best 4-58, ended Kohli´s sparkling knock of 117 that included two sixes and seven boundaries. He needed only 19 runs today to overtake AB de Villiers, who reached the landmark in 172 matches and 166 innings. Australia have won the first two matches of the series by chasing 300-plus scores.
Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Indian cricket team suffered an early blow as the in-form batsman Rohit Sharma (6) was sent back into the hut by Kane Richardson in the fifth over. But for a short while it looked like India’s 295 in Melbourne might have been enough to keep this series alive.
Kohli was soon outscoring the opener, and brought up his fifty off just 51 deliveries.
Although Dhawan finally scored his first half-century in 17 global innings, he was not totally comfortable and struggled to find the gaps. He had gotten himself to 68 before throwing his wicket away to Hastings. That had little hindrance on India’s total, however, as Kohli cruised to his 24th century in one-dayers, and was well supported by Ajinkya Rahane (50 from 55). Rahane notched his second successive fifty, but was out next ball when he tried hoick Hastings out the ground.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said poor fielding had again cost his side.
Advertisement
Faulkner struck the winning runs to give Australia a three-wicket victory which gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
