Team India received a reality check against the Pat Cummins-led side, which handed them a 66-run loss in the recently concluded final ODI of the three-match series played in Rajkot on Wednesday. Australia avoided a whitewash in the series as India won it 2-1. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first and made five changes as Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, and Tanveer Sangha returned to the playing XI, while India made as many as six changes, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj returning to the field. Glenn Maxwell troubled Indian batsmen and was awarded the Player of the Match due to his bowling performance.
While batting first, Australia registered a score of 352 runs with the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs, which is also the highest total in Rajkot. Australia may have felt underwhelmed as, at one point, they must have been eyeing a score of 400 plus, but in the death overs, India’s bowling was top-notch. While chasing 353, India got a good start but couldn’t finish things and crumbled to 286 in 49.4 overs and Australia ended their Five match losing streak. Moreover, this becomes the fifth ODI match in India in which the highest number of runs (638) were scored in aggregate without an individual hundred.
Breathtaking Start For Australia, Collapsed in Death Overs
Australia’s opener, Mitchell Marsh (96 off 84), and David Warner (56 off 34), made a healthy start and built an opening partnership of 78 runs. Warner became the 2nd Australian batsman to score 50 plus runs in all 3 matches of the series after Aaron Finch. Prasidh Krishna got Warner’s wicket, and Steve Smith took his guard at No.3. The second-wicket partnership further put India on the back foot as Smith (74 off 61) and Marsh structured a 137-run partnership.
Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Marsh, and Mohammed Siraj got Smith within the span of 4 overs. Smith completed 5000 runs in ODI cricket. Alex Carey (11), Glenn Maxwell (5), and Cameron Green (9) couldn’t contribute much as Jasprit Bumrah’s slower one to Carey, a raw-paced Yorker to Glenn Maxwell, and Kuldeep’s goggly to Green opened the door for India’s comeback into the game. Marnus Labuschagne (72 off 58) showed some fight until the end, but Bumrah ensured no further damage.
Glenn Maxwell’s Bat Falters, Retorts with Impressive Bowling Performance
Indian opener Rohit Sharma (81 off 57) and makeshift opener Washington Sundar (18 off 30) provided India with a fine start, forming a 74-run partnership. The dot ball pressure started building up on Sundar, and he eventually gave his wicket away to Glenn Maxwell. Another promising partnership developed between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (56 off 61), but Glenn Maxwell broke the partnership with a stunning catch off his own delivery. Rohit became the second batsman and the fastest to smash 551 sixes in international cricket, needing just 2 more to break Chris Gayle’s (553) record for the most sixes in international cricket.
Maxwell then sent Kohli back to the pavilion, and Starc and Hazlewood dismissed KL Rahul (26 off 30) and Suryakumar Yadav (8 off 7) respectively. Shreyas Iyer (48 off 43) and Ravindra Jadeja (35 off 36) showed a little fight but failed to deny the defeat. After Glenn Maxwell got Iyer, he recorded his best ODI bowling figures of 10-0-40-4, which also became the second-best bowling figures by Australian spinners against India.
The South Africa Tour was a Bit of a Setback – Glenn Maxwell
In the post-match presentation, after receiving the Player of the Match award, Glenn Maxwell acknowledged the hard work that had gone into his performance, stating that it hadn’t been easy. Maxwell noted that unlike some of his teammates, he didn’t have any travel issues, which allowed him to stay fresh. He also commented on the absence of Mitchell Marsh on the field, indicating that if Marsh had been present, there might have been more flexibility in the bowling choices.
“Not too bad, is it! It has been a lot of hard work. The South Africa tour was a bit of a setback, but sped things up as well, got back home and got an injection. I don’t have any travel issues unlike the others. I look fresh. It’s nice to chip in, if Mitch Marsh was there on the field, we would have chopped and changed [on the bowling]. Since he was not there, had to bowl more,” said Glenn Maxwell.
“That will be the role of the allrounders in this World Cup. We are all trying to be as flexible as possible. We have a super-flexible list and it’s good to get some momentum before the World Cup,” he added.