Australia lost their way in the middle overs in the final ODI at Chennai to finish with an underwhelming total after having blazed off the blocks. Having opted to bat at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Australia had flourished in the powerplay thanks to some typically flamboyant batting by their openers, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh.
It was only through the introduction of Hardik Pandya in the 11th over that India manage to claw back into the contest. Hardik saw Head being reprieved on 17 by Shubman Gill at deep square leg but had him caught at third man shortly thereafter to make sure that the damage was minimised. He netted the big fish promptly as Australia’s skipper Steve Smith nicked off in his next over to fall for a duck. With his assortment of cutters and back of length balls, Hardik put a kibosh on Australia’s freewheeling strokeplay. The wicket of Mitchell Marsh was the icing on the cake as the burly hitter fell three short of what could have been three fifties on the trot.
The quick wickets twinned with the discipline shown by Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav kept the squeeze on Australia.
Bamboozled 💥
An epic delivery from @imkuldeep18 to get Alex Carey out!
Australia 7⃣ down now.
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— BCCI (@BCCI) March 22, 2023
