Today’s match at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a thrilling one. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, but the Indian bowlers restricted them to 236.
Harshit Rana performed brilliantly, taking four wickets, Washington Sundar two, and the rest of the bowlers maintained a tight line.
Mitchell Marsh scored 41 and Matt Renshaw 56, but wickets continued to fall in the middle overs. Only 12 extra runs were scored, and the run rate was 5.06.
This was a chaseable score for India, but Australia seemed poised to sweep the innings.
Rana’s lethal bowling shattered Australia
Travis Head hit 29 runs early in the match, hitting six fours, but Mohammed Siraj dismissed him early. Marsh then struggled a bit, but was trapped LBW by Axar Patel.
Matthew Short fell to Washington on 30, and Renshaw reached a half-century before Sundar dismissed him LBW.
Alex Carey fell to Rana for 24, and Copper Connelly was also caught by him for 23. Mitchell Starc was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav for 2, and Nathan Ellis by Prasidh Krishna for 16. Finally, Rana dismissed Josh Hazlewood for 0.
The fall of wickets saw the team go from 183/4 to 236/10, a major setback. Rana’s 4/39 in 8.4 overs was a career-best.
Rohit-Kohli Stand Turns Match Around
In the chase, Shubman Gill scored 24 runs, but Josh Hazlewood dismissed him in 10.2 overs. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli then shared an unbeaten 168-run partnership.
Rohit scored 121* off 125 balls, hitting 13 fours and 3 sixes, with an SR of 96.80. Kohli scored 74* off 81 balls, with 7 fours at an SR of 91.36. Only 18 extra runs came off wides. Australian bowlers like Starc, Hazlewood, and Ellis all failed.
India scored 237/1 in 38.3 overs to win by 9 wickets with 69 balls remaining. Rohit was named Player of the Match.
With this win, India lost the series 1-2, but managed a clean sweep. This was Rohit’s 33rd ODI century, and Kohli’s 75th fifty in a chase.
The Sydney pitch was batting-friendly, but the Indian bowling made a strong start. We look forward to the next series.
