Even the most optimistic Indian fan or the most pessimistic Australian fan could not have foreseen the five-match One Day International series getting wrapped up after just three matches. A 3-0 scoreline for India is as incredible as it is praise-worthy as Virat Kohli’s men become the No 1 ranked ODI side in the world to go with their No. 1 Test status.
And just like the first two ODIs in Chennai and Kolkata, Australia failed to drive home their advantage from a position of strength in Indore on Sunday.
Here are three talking points from the third ODI.
Brain-fade redux
The term that will forever remain associated with the Test series earlier this year between the two sides made a cameo appearance during this match this as well, in the form of Glenn Maxwell. For the third game running Yuzvendra Chahal had the better of the Aussie batsman when he stepped down the track, pre-meditated to hit the ball out of the park in the 43rd over. He ran down the pitch, even before Chahal had released the ball, and was left a spectator for the next few seconds – the ball out of his reach, and MS Dhoni quick as ever to complete the stumping.
The circumstances made it look even worse. The previous delivery of the innings, his captain Steve Smith had just found the fielder at long off. Just four overs back, the well-set Aaron Finch had been dismissed for 124. Now, that’s two big wickets that Australia have already lost and the onus was on Maxwell to make sure he batted deep to take Australia past 300. What does he do? He falls in the most predictable fashion there is, trying to be over aggressive. The reaction on Chahal’s face said the story – he folded his arms, had his right hand on his face and broke into a chuckle.
Maxwell with the bat truly is the Shahid Afridi of this Australian side.
India’s death bowling
Sunil Gavaskar suggested to Michael Clarke during the pitch report that the two of them should take a break from commentating on this match and go have a bat on what looked like a batting paradise. And for 38 overs of the Australian innings, that seemed like a perfectly good suggestion. The pitch had plenty of runs on offer and the scoreboard reading 224 for 1, Australia were on course for 330 and more.
And then the Indian bowlers stepped up.
Good death bowling is usually associated with fast bowlers sending down yorkers with precision and mixing up their pace to fox the batsmen. But on Sunday, India had two spinners play a role more crucial than the pacers. Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal were targeted all afternoon by the Australian top order but at the most crucial phase of the innings, they chipped in with the wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah deserve plenty of credit for conceding just 38 runs in the last six overs, but it was set up perfectly for them by the two wrist spinners in the overs preceding that.
Kuldeep, once again, proved he doesn’t mind getting hit for plenty and then bouncing back to end up among the wickets – his dismissals of Finch and Smith could well be the moments that Australia look back with the most regret in the aftermath of this series defeat. Chahal, meanwhile, controlled the flow of runs from his end – 1/54 in 10 overs on a track like that speaks volumes of his abilities.
India’s four main bowlers restricted Australia to just 59 runs in the last 10 overs on a flat track. And the most pleasing aspect for Kohli has to be that this is now expected of India’s bowlers. Death bowling is not the Achilles’ heel it once was for this Indian side.
Rahane’s mini-resurgence
The biggest positive to emerge for India from the batting side of things was undoubtedly Hardik Pandya’s knock. Promoted to No 4, the man who currently can do very little wrong, smashed 78 off 76 balls to add to his burgeoning reputation as a star all-rounder. Like we wrote after the first ODI, slowly but steadily, Pandya is proving all his doubters wrong.
But there was one other Indian batsman who, as is his style, quietly went about answering his critics. Ajinkya Rahane’s 70 off 76 balls was an innings that won’t make the headlines, but it’ll enhance his reputation as a viable option for India at the top of the order in ODIs.
A long-standing criticism of Rahane has been his ability to score quick runs at the top of the order. While Shikhar Dhawan invariably bats only in top gear, Rohit Sharma can start slow and still make up for it as the innings goes on with his ability to clear the boundary ropes. Rahane, however, doesn’t belong to either category. In Indore, though, he showed a willingness to take the occasional risk, not worrying about playing the perfect-looking shots but worried about finding the gaps, even if it means playing an ugly slog through the midwicket.
There was a sense of purpose to his batting, an urge to find the boundaries often and not be content with playing out dot balls even as Rohit was hitting the ball out of the ground at the other end. Rahane’s nine boundaries in his 70 were a mix of precise drives and improvised pulls and cuts – a sign that he wants to be taken seriously as an ODI opener. And with Dhawan not returning for the final two matches, Rahane gets two more chances to show what he can offer Kohli in the limited over format.
Do you prefer your favourite sports stories delivered straight to your inbox every weekday? We have got you covered. Subscribe to The Field’s newsletter.
