Australia Beat India By 66 Runs In 3rd ODI, Series Ends 2-1

Australia handed India their first defeat of the bilateral One Day International (ODI) series in a dead-rubber match for the men in blue who have already clinched the three-match series.

Batting first, Australia put up a mammoth 352 runs on the board with India getting all-out for 286 handing their opponents a win by 66 runs. With the win, Australia were able to save some blushes as the series ended 2-1 in India’s favour.

Having won the toss, Pat Cummins decided to bat first with the opening pair setting the scene for a big total. David Warner was the first to depart, but only after exploiting the Indian attack as he scored 56 runs of just 34 balls with four maximums and six boundaries. Alongside him, fellow opener Mitchell Marsh pushed on with Steve Smith to put up a 137-run partnership. He was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav for 96 off 84 balls.

Steve Smith scored 74 runs and Marnus Labuschagne scored 72 as they went on to post a massive 352 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 50 overs. For India, Jusprit Bumrah managed to pick three wickets, while Kuldeep got two and Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna shared one wicket each.

Coming in to bat, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma played some fine shots and looked really in form as he raced to 81 runs off just 57 balls with five fours and six sixes. However, at the other end, fellow opener Washington Sundar suffered scoring just 18 runs before departing.

Virat Kohli came in to bat with the team 74 for the loss of one wicket and carried the responsibility, but to some extent as he was dismissed for 56 runs off 61 balls. Shreyas Iyer also looked good for a while, but could not take the pressure of getting the team across the line. Elsewhere, KL Rahul probably suffered from a role change coming in to bat at three down and scored only 26 runs. Suryakumar Yadav failed to impress departing for just eight. Ravindra Jadeja threatened for a while at the end, but was put out by Tanveer Sangha.

In the end, India fell after scoring 286 runs handing Australia the win. Glenn Maxwell had a good day with the ball picking up four wickets as Josh Hazlewood got two and Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green and Tanveer Sangha shared a wicket each.

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