Match Report
Aus vs Ind (Third ODI): Dhoni, Jadhav Secures The Series After Australians Fielding Failures
By Sandy - Jan 18, 2019 5:11 pm
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The hosts Australia missed many opportunities in the tight series-decider game against the visiting side India at Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne) and that resulted in another great victory for India who won the game by seven wickets (with four balls remaining) and won the three-match ODI series too by the 2-1 margin. The former Indian skipper and present Indian limited-overs wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni continued his strong batting form while the comeback players Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav played impressive roles in this game.

India
First bilateral ODI series victory for India in Australia

After winning the toss, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli decided to bowl first. Once again, the Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided a brilliant start after dismissing both the openers at very early. The opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey was caught slip for just 5 runs while the skipper and the other opener Aaron Finch was trapped for lbw after scoring just 14 runs.

Also watch: Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s Dead Ball Followed By Finch’s Wicket

Later, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh had the 73-run partnership for the third wicket. But after it was broken by the Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, the Australian side lost their next wickets in regular intervals. From the beginning to end, Chahal consistently put the hosts’ batsmen into trouble and bagged a total of six wickets in this game. He finished with the impressive bowling figure of 10-0-42-6.

Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal claimed the best ever ODI bowling figure by a bowler in Australia

Also watch: Chahal Bags Two In An Over, Dhoni Helps

From 100/2, Australia went down to 161/6. After that, Peter Handscomb stretched the innings and provided a crucial 45-run partnership with Jhye Richardson for the seventh wicket. Handscomb completed his half-century in 57 balls and played a very good knock of 58 off 63 balls (2 fours) while Richardson was dismissed at earlier after scoring 16 runs.

Also watch: Rohit Sharma Takes A One-handed Diving Catch On Chahal’s Bowling

After the tail-enders were wrapped up quickly, Australia were bundled out for 230 runs (48.4 overs). While Handscomb scored the highest runs in that innings, Khawaja (34 runs) and Marsh (39 runs) were the only other batsmen to play the 30+ knocks. Glenn Maxwell was the only other batsman who reached the 20-run mark as he scored 26 off 19 balls before losing his wicket.

Also watch: Mohammed Shami Traps Maxwell With Bouncers

Apart from Chahal’s brilliant bowling spell, the Indian pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/28) and Mohammed Shami (2/47) bagged two wickets each.

In reply, Indian opener Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply on just 9 runs. After that, the other opener Shikhar Dhawan (23 runs) had a 44-run partnership for the second wicket along with the skipper Virat Kohli before getting caught & bowled by Marcus Stoinis.

The hosts got multiple opportunities to dismiss both Kohli and the no.4 batsman MS Dhoni for cheaply but failed to utilise those. They had a 54-run partnership for the third wicket before the skipper Kohli lost his wicket on 46 off 62 balls (3 fours).

When Kohli was dismissed, India still needed 118 more runs in 20 overs to win that game. Then, Kedar Jadhav came to the crease and joined Dhoni and with the time progressed, that partnership dominated. Dhoni completed his third consecutive half-century in this series in 74 balls, while Jadhav reached his 50 runs in 52 balls.

Dhoni
MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav finished the game successfully

India successfully chased the target of 231 runs in 49.2 overs after losing three wickets (234/3). While Dhoni remained not out on 87 off 114 balls (6 fours), Jadhav played a brilliant knock of 61 runs off 57 balls (7 fours).

With this victory, India won the series (by 2-1) while Chahal won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant bowling effort. It is also India’s first ever bilateral ODI series victory in Australia while it was only India’s second bilateral ODI series in Australia. MS Dhoni, who finished as the second leading run-scorer in this series by scoring 193 runs with the average of 193.00 (Shaun Marsh scored most runs in the ODI series as he scored 224 runs with the average of 74.66), won the Player of the Series award.

 

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Tags Australian cricket teamIndia tour of Australia 2018/19Indian cricket teamKedar JadhavMelbourne ODIms dhoniODI seriesThird ODIYuzvendra Chahal

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