India lose 7 for 102 to botch up manageable 270-run chase

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill finding the fence routinely gave wings to India’s hopes of chasing down a manageable 270, but the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals once the opening partnership was broken and ended up losing the decider to gift a series win to Australia.

Australia had themselves huffed and puffed to the seemingly below-par total after having galloped off the blocks at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai. Thanks to some typically flamboyant batting by Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh, Australia had flourished in the powerplay but lost the plot with the introduction of Hardik Pandya.

The all-rounder 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, but in the end they managed to put up a total that challenged India.