Steve Smith said how the pacers of both teams had got assistance with the new ball in hand during the third and final ODI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday. The elegant number three batsman looked in sublime touch as he had two consecutive centuries to his name coming into this contest. However, he could not register a hat-trick of tons as he never looked comfortable in the middle and his painstaking stay at the crease ended for a 15-ball 7 when he was caught behind by KL Rahul off Shardul Thakur while attempting a leg glance to work the ball towards fine-leg.
The Men In Blue needed to salvage pride after already having lost the ODI series. The coin landed in Kohli’s favour and he had no hesitation in batting first in this dead-rubber contest. However, at 152/5, it seemed that the Aussies would restrict the Indians to a manageable total but the middle-order duo of Hardik Pandya (92*) and Ravindra Jadeja (66*) had other ideas as they added a 150-run stand for the sixth-wicket that helped the Men In Blue breach the 300-run mark which looked difficult at one stage. In the end, India finished their innings at 302/5 in their 50 overs.
In reply, the hosts lost the prized wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as they were reduced to 56/2 and that is when skipper Aaron Finch decided to play a counter-attacking knock before he was outfoxed by Ravindra Jadeja for 75.
Even though Moises Henriques and Cameron Green and wicket-keeper batsman Alex Cary could not convert their good starts into impactful knocks, Glenn Maxwell gave India a scare with his power-hitting skills. The explosive middle-order batsman played a game-changing innings to near perfection with a 38-ball 59 at a strike rate of 155.26 including three boundaries and four maximums. When it appeared as if he would single-handedly take the game away from the visitors, he was done by a picture-perfect yorker from Jasprit Bumrah with the hosts still needing 35 from 33 deliveries.
