Hardik Pandya’s pyrotechnics help Kohli-led India reclaim pride with 13-run win over Australia in 3rd ODI

KEY STORY

• Virat Kohli’s gutsy knock and Hardik Pandya’s batting pyrotechnics powered Team India to a comfortable win over Aaron Finch-led Australia in the third and final ODI on Wednesday.

• Even though Team India had already lost the three-match limited-overs series against Australia, Virat Kohli’s men made sure the visitors salvage some pride as the Asian giants outclassed the Aaron Finch-led side in the third and final One Day International (ODI) on Wednesday.

• Kohli-led Team India bowed out of the three-match ODI series with a thrilling 13-run win over hosts Australia in the final match contested at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.

• With pride at stake, Team India led by skipper Kohli managed to edge past Australia in another humdinger of a contest to avoid a second-successive whitewash in the 50-over format.

• The Men In Blue opted to tweak their playing XI combination by replacing Mayank Agarwal, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mohammed Shami with Shubman Gill, Thangarasu Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, and Kuldeep Yadav.

India take the win in the final ODI by 13 runs.

Australia take the series 2-1 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/t8l9tvMtp7

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 2, 2020

• Batting first against the mighty Aussies in the ODI series finale, the visitors managed to set a challenging total of 302-5 for the Men from Down Under.

• While opener Shikhar Dhawan showcased a rare batting failure (16 off 27), opener Gill failed to cash-in on his start as the youngster departed after a gritty 33 off 39 balls.

• Team India’s go-to-man and skipper Kohli once again steadied the ship for the visitors by notching up another half-century.

• Kohli played out a gutsy 63-run knock and also shattered Sachin Tendulkar’s record by becoming the fastest batsman to score 12,000 ODI runs.

• Giving India a late flourish, Hardik Pandya tormented the potent Australian batting attack with a sublime knock. Counterattacking the Australian bowlers with his batting pyrotechnics, Pandya ended up smashing an unbeaten 92 off 76 balls.

Jadeja's smashed his last seven balls for 30 runs – and brings up his 50 too #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/13acZhFqnH

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 2, 2020

• Middle-order batsman Ravindra Jadeja played a perfect second-fiddle to Pandya with an unbeaten 66-run knock.

• Pandya and Jadeja also shattered the 21-year-old record with a memorable 150-run stand against Australia.

Player of the Match for the third ODI is Hardik Pandya for his 92 not out #AUSvIND

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 2, 2020

• Chasing the competitive total, Australia suffered an early setback as Marnus Labuschagne became Natarajan’s first victim in his debut game for India.

• While Natarajan removed the accidental opener, Shardul scalped the jackpot wicket of Steve Smith to put Australia on the back foot.

• Though Australia staged an impressive fightback courtesy Finch (75) and Glenn Maxwell’s (59) crucial knocks, the visitors succumbed to pressure as they failed to scale the 303-run target in 50 overs.

• With the win, India have not only avoided a humiliating ODI series whitewash but the Men In Blue have also earned crucial points in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.

A consolation victory for India as the third Dettol ODI went down to the final over #AUSvIND https://t.co/l0ynljlixI

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 2, 2020