India had a disappointing ODI series as they were on the brink of a whitewash, if not for Manish Pandey’s maiden hundred that helped them win their first and only match in a five-match series.
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Both the sides had given their veterans a chance. Smith was caught by the Indian Test captain off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling and Kohli immediately signalled something just as he was walking back to the pavilion. The home team will also have at least one more spin option in the field, with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to return from the minor hamstring injury that sidelined him from Australia’s past two matches.
After national anthem of both the nations got over, Rohit Sharma got India to a breezy start.
The run rate was getting in front of the hosts at that phase, even though Shane Watson (12) struck a few lusty hits to calm the dressing-room, they required several more of these and he was ignored taking a large one against Ashwin, captured by Nehra at small good calf.
Watson finished with 2-24 from four overs, striking with his first ball and again four balls later.
The Australia captain had been asked to offer commentary ahead of the delivery which saw him miscue a drive to Virat Kohli at mid-off, prompting some discussion on social media about whether he had been distracted.
“I allowed us to get too far behind the rate from the start”, Finch said.
After the T20 loss, when Australia was bowled out for 151 in reply to India’s 3-188 at Adelaide Oval, Finch said catching was a problem that needed rectifying.
“Davey Warner and Steve Smith were outstanding with their intent and I just couldn’t get off strike, I couldn’t hit boundaries for a period there so I take full responsibility for them getting out”. He required 11 balls to complete a legitimate over where gave away 19 runs.
Di Venuto, who will take over head coach for the T20 series after Darren Lehmann was admitted to a Sydney hospital suffering from deep vein thrombosis, urged players not use the series as an audition for the looming T20 World Cup. I think that would have been a more manageable total.
Raina survived a couple of close chances, but then settled into a patient innings that complemented Kohli’s classy knock at the other end perfectly. “It was a good batting strip, the ball came nicely on to the bat, I could play my shots”.
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“We let ourselves down in the field and obviously an unbelievable innings by Virat – he’s hard to stop when he gets going”, Finch said.
