2 mistakes and 1 masterstroke by Team India in the 3rd ODI vs Australia
Team India suffered just their third home ODI series loss in eight years as Australia clinched the final contest of their three-match series by 21 runs on Wednesday, March 22.
Although it was their first series loss at home since 2019, alarm bells must be ringing in the home side's camp. They were totally outplayed in the second ODI and played some poor cricket at various stages in the decider at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The hosts will know that they have a lot of work to do in the lead-up to the 2023 World Cup. The Aussies proved to be a challenging opposition despite not being at full strength and managed to clinch the series.
Here are two mistakes and one masterstroke made by Team India in the third ODI against Australia.
#3 Mistake - India let Australia's lower order score too many runs
Kuldeep Yadav's superb spell in the middle overs yielded three wickets and meant the hosts had a real chance to bowl the Aussies out cheaply. When the left-arm wrist-spinner cleaned up Alex Carey with a ripper, the score read 203/7.
With only three wickets left to take, Rohit Sharma and Co. were expected to wrap up the innings quickly. However, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa, the visitors' last four batters, added a combined 63 runs, hitting three fours and three sixes between them.
Australia were eventually bowled out for 269 with one over to spare, and the runs that their lower order made proved to be the difference in the end. The Men in Blue should've done a better job at cleaning up the tail.
#2 Masterstroke - The Men in Blue promoted Axar Patel to No. 5
The move didn't work out. Axar Patel was run out for just two runs off four balls as the Men in Blue found themselves at 151/4. However, the decision to promote the southpaw in the batting order was certainly an extremely smart one.
Axar has been one of the hosts' most assured players of spin in recent times, with his displays in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy still fresh in memory. His batting was also underutilized in the second ODI as he eventually found himself without any partners.
The team management finally decided to be brave and sent Axar in at No. 5, where he could counter Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar. He is a better player of spin than Ravindra Jadeja, and although the latter is the more accomplished ODI player, India did the right thing.
This kind of strategy is bound to work on another day. Rohit Sharma and Co. can't be discouraged by the fact that it didn't yield dividends in Chennai.
#1 Mistake - The hosts' batters lacked game awareness throughout the second innings
Some of the shots India's batters played to be dismissed were inexcusable. Zampa and Agar were clearly the biggest wicket-taking threats for the Aussies, but the home side's batters bizarrely tried to take them on repeatedly.
KL Rahul tried to hoist Zampa over the straight boundary and found long-on. Virat Kohli survived one lazy chip down the ground off Agar before managing to pick out long-off with a similar shot. To make matters worse, he did it in the left-arm spinner's final over.
Zampa had two overs to bowl in the third powerplay, and he managed to prise out Hardik and Jadeja, who tried attacking him by heaving across the line. Even captain Rohit Sharma, who was the first to be dismissed, played a pull shot that lacked conviction.
India's batters need to ask themselves why they decided to take risks at all inopportune times against the opposition's best bowlers.