Australia had the last laugh in the three-match ODI series against India as Steve Smith-led side rocked hosts in the third tie in Chennai by 21 runs to ultimately clinch the series 2-1. Australia posted 269 on the board in 49 overs. Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav led India's bowling attack and snared three wickets each. In reply, India looked steady as star openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave Men in Blue a robust start as the duo stitched together 65-run stand for the opening wicket but soon perished after scoring 30 and 37 runs respectively. After KL Rahul's 32, Virat Kohli however put up a show with a brilliant half-century followed by Hardik Pandya's sedate 40 but wickets kept tumbling at the other end and India ran out of steam and lost the match, thanks to Adam Zampa's exceptional four-fer.
Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit rued India's loss and said that batters should have batted responsibly and taken the game deep.
“I don't think it was too many runs. We didn't bat well. Partnerships are crucial and that's something we failed to do today. You are brought up playing in these type of wickets, it's important you apply. After the start, it was important for one batter to carry on and take the game deep. It just didn't happen. Lot of takeaways. We can take a lot of positives from the nine ODIs since January. We need to understand where we need to improve. It's a collective failure, we can take a lot of learnings from this series. Credit to the Australians. Both the spinners applied the pressure and so did their seamers,” Rohit said in the post match presentation ceremony.
Suryakumar Yadav, who is known for his explosive batting, took disappointed with his performance as he recorded a hat-trick of golden ducks in the third ODI against Australia on Wednesday (March 22). Just like first and second ODI, the T20I-format hero faltered without opening his account in the series decider and bagged an unwanted feat against his name. Suryakumar became the first Indian batter to register three consecutive golden ducks in ODIs the moment he was undone by Ashton Agar in the third ODI against Australia, while in the first and second ODI he was dismissed by Mitchell Starc.
India lost a bilateral ODI series at home after four years and it was Australia under Aaron Finch that had beaten Virat Kohli's side back in 2019.
Australia dislodged India from the top of the ODI rankings to become new World no.1 after their 2-1 series victory over hosts. After conceding the three-match series, India lost their dominance in the ODI rankings, albeit, both the teams are tied on 113 rating points. The Men in Blue also lost their maiden ODI series at home after March 2019 when they faced a 2-3 defeat to Australia.
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