India register comprehensive 7-wicket win over Australia in the decider, clinch series 2-1

India completed a comprehensive seven-wicket win against Australia in the third and final ODI at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru on Sunday, sealing the series 2-1. Fiery opener Rohit Sharma led the chase from the front, as he brought up his 29th ODI ton as well as surpassing 9000 runs in the limited-overs format of the game. Skipper Virat Kohli came very close to his 44th ton before Josh Hazlewood got rid of the Indian skipper. From there on, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey took over the reins and completed the win for the home side. Hitman Rohit Sharma was adjudged the Man of the Match for his magnificent knock with the bat. Skipper Virat Kohli was adjudged the Player of the Series.  

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India win by seven wickets

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Jubliant Virat Kohli hails win

Skipper Virat Kohli took over the charge for leading the run-chase after Rohit Sharma was dismissed post his magnificent ton. Striking eight boundaries, Virat Kohli made his way to 89 runs before he was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood at the fag end of the run-chase. Shreyas Iyer, who came in at number four, provided the perfect ending to the run-chase along with Manish Pandey as Iyer made a quickfire 44 runs off 35 balls with six fours and one six. Australia's bowlers found no answers to stop the onslaught of the Hitman as spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar managed to get one scalp each while Josh Hazlewood added one to his name towards the end of the innings. Shikhar Dhawan, who walked off the field after he hurt his shoulder while fielding, did not come out to bat for India, as BCCI said that he was being assessed and that a call on his participation would be taken once the game concluded. Another unique fact about this series was that India have lost the first ODI of the last three bilateral series against Australia and have gone on to win the series. 

"We're quite experienced, Rohit and I, and we were short of Shikhar. We got a good start, it was a tricky situation when KL got out as it was a tricky situation. All Australia want are wickets. Rohit played beautifully today before I took over. It's important to make sure one guy continues to bat till the end and takes us over the line. It's important to practice in the nets, but it's important to be okay mentally and press forward. I'm not worried about the short ball, and trust my technique to take over. You need to have a clear and uncluttered mind. Australia were even better than last time. There's Steve David and Marnus. Coming back and winning the last two games after losing the first one, is very satisfying. Getting one back given that we lost the series at home last year is really satisfying", said winning skipper Virat Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony. 

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Aaron Finch on the loss

"The wicket started to spin quite a bit. The quicks started sliding on a little bit at the end. If we had 310ish, then our spinners could put some pressure in the middle. Again, we just keep losing one wicket too many at every stage of the game. Our momentum gets stalled, but it's a great learning curve to play against the best in the world in their conditions. Agar bowled great lines and length, and he's always on the stumps, so the batsman has to take risks of the good balls. You bowling at world-class players, but I thought we'd pitch a few overs of part-time spin, but that wasn't to be", said Aaron Finch during the post-match presentation ceremony. 

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