3 Indian players who flopped in the 3rd ODI vs Australia
Team India suffered their first home ODI series defeat since 2019 as Australia clinched the third and final contest by 21 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, March 22.
Virat Kohli was the hosts' top-scorer with 54, while Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya picked up three wickets each in the first innings. Hardik also contributed a handy run-a-ball 40. However, others failed to deliver in the crunch game.
Here are three Indian players who flopped in the third ODI against Australia.
#3 Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav recorded golden ducks in each of his first two matches against the Aussies, trapped in front by inswingers from Mitchell Starc on both occasions. He would have likely welcomed the opportunity for his first ball to come from a different bowler in the third match.
The Men in Blue set it up nicely for Suryakumar, sending him in at No. 7 when the situation allowed him to play his aggressive brand of cricket. KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel were sent ahead of him, and SKY only needed to give Hardik some company in the middle.
Incredibly, Suryakumar lasted just one ball once again. An arm ball from Ashton Agar cleaned him up as he failed to get bat on ball, literally, for the third game running. His dismissal left the hosts in a heap of trouble at 185/6 as the left-arm spinner ended up with two wickets in his final over.
Suryakumar's days as an ODI player for Team India seem numbered.
#2 Rohit Sharma
A solid 50-run partnership comes up between Captain @ImRo45 & @ShubmanGill 👏
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Too much blame can't be leveled at Rohit Sharma, who has taken on his new aggressive role at the top of the order with a degree of selflessness. However, the shots he has been playing to be dismissed have been anything but acceptable.
In the third ODI against Australia, Rohit raced to 30 at a strike rate of almost 200, striking two fours and two sixes in his potentially match-defining knock. However, he threw away his wicket in the last over of the powerplay, playing a pull shot that lacked any conviction to hole out in the deep.
We've seen Rohit find a fielder on the square leg boundary far too often over the last couple of years. The short ball has proven to be both a boon and a bane for the Indian skipper, who really needs to reconsider his approach to the delivery.
Rohit's performance in the first innings wasn't great either. He let the Aussie lower-order batters pile on far too many runs when it seemed like the hosts would be able to get away with a clearly sub-par total.
#1 KL Rahul
KL Rahul was one of the Men in Blue's star performers in the series opener, where he notched up an unbeaten 75 under pressure. He failed in the second ODI, though, and turned in an uncomfortable batting display in the decider.
Rahul earned a promotion to No. 4 as the team management decided to take some pressure off Suryakumar Yadav's shoulders. However, he couldn't find his timing at all. The 30-year-old struggled to adjust to the pace of the surface as he labored 22 off 47 balls before managing to get 10 runs off a Mitchell Starc over.
In the very next over, though, Rahul tried to clear the long-on boundary off Adam Zampa, who was clearly Australia's biggest threat on the Chennai surface. Both the intent and the execution of the shot were highly questionable as he holed out in the deep.