Updated January 19th, 2020 at 16:39 IST

Steve Smith takes Chinnaswamy by a storm, defies nervous 90s to get to his 9th ton

After missing out on a deserving century in the second ODI, ace Australia batsman Steve Smith slammed a brilliant century against India in the third ODI

Reported by: Jitesh Vachhatani
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After missing out on a deserving century in the second ODI, ace Australia batsman Steve Smith slammed a brilliant century against India in the third ODI at Bengaluru on Sunday. After losing out on both the openers early, Smith steadied the Aussie innings along with Marnus Labuschagne as he kept the scoreboard ticking. He breached the 100-run mark off 117 deliveries laced with eleven boundaries and no maximums. 

Misses out in second, hits a ton in third ODI

Steve Smith missed out on his century in the second ODI by just two runs as Kuldeep Yadav bowled him at a crucial moment. Smith's wicket had led to the Australian batting collapse and eventually led to India's victor, leveling the series. Marnus Labuschagne, who received his maiden ODI cap in the first ODI also slammed his maiden ODI half-century in the third ODI after missing out on his 50 in the second one by just four runs. Labuschagne, however, could not convert his 50 into a big score as he fell to Ravindra Jadeja courtesy of skipper Kohli's stunning catch in the deep. After winning the toss, Australia choose to bat at M Chinnaswamy's batting pitch. The series is currently leveled at 1-1. 

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Comedy of errors on-field

A comedy of errors on the field between Steve Smith and Aaron Finch in the third and final ODI against India in Bengaluru resulted in skipper Aaron Finch's prestigious wicket as Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. In the ninth over of the match, as Steve Smith nudged the ball at backward point and called for a single hesitantly but skipper Aaron Finch had already reached the striker's end. Smith dived back into his crease leaving his skipper nowhere. 

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Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer collected the overthrow at short midwicket and calmly threw the ball to Mohammad Shami who then scalped the bails at the non-striker's end running Aaron Finch out. As a result, at the end of nine overs, Australia were at 50 for the loss of two wickets with David Warner departing early in the game. Netizens were quick enough to react to the bizarre run-out leading to the skipper's wicket.

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Image Credits: Cricket Australia

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Published January 19th, 2020 at 16:38 IST