India and Australia clashed against each other in the third and final match of the ODI series in Chennai on Wednesday. Both teams entered on the ground with the hope to win the series as it was also a series-decider match. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. Meanwhile, during the first innings, Mohammed Siraj dropped a tough catch, and Ravindra Jadeja wasn’t pleased with his effort.
During the 20th over of the first innings, David Warner played a sweep shot that went towards Siraj, it was a tough chance and he only got fingertips to it. Warner goes for the sweep but the ball bounces more and flies off the top edge to deep backward square, Siraj ran in and dived forward but was not able to hang on. Former legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said in the commentary box that Siraj hasn’t developed fielding skills.
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“With Siraj what we have seen over the years, in the last 2-3 years – He still hasn’t developed that instinct. So, it was a late start. This was a tough one, make no mistake. It wasn’t an easy catch at all. But he started late and therefore he had to dive. No wonder! (Talking about Jadeja’s scream of anguish) But then, it can’t be your standards, Ravindra. Your standards are sky high,” Gavaskar said on-air.
Brilliant bowling performance by Indian bowlers
Talking about the Australian innings, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head got their team off to another brisk start as they took the attack to the Indian new ball bowlers and forged a 68-run stand for the first wicket. Rohit Sharma brought in Hardik Pandya and the all-rounder wasted little time making a mark. He removed Head with a short ball in his 1st over, had Steve Smith nick off for a duck in his 2nd, and then nipped out the dangerous Marsh in the following over.
Australia slipped from 68/1 to 85/3. Warner, batting at four, along with Marnus Labuschagne, looked to repair the innings but both the batters threw away their starts as they perished to Kuldeep Yadav, trying to take the aerial route. Alex Carey and Marcus Stoinis managed to stitch a half-ton stand, and just when they looked to be threatening, the latter fell playing a high-risk shot.
It was a decent recovery at the end from the Australian lower order as they managed to achieve a fighting total of 269 runs. Hardik and Kuldeep picked three wickets each, Jadeja did his stuff quietly as he bowled an economical spell and kept one end tight, and Siraj picked two wickets in the end.
