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Australia have finally claimed their first win of the series against India, emerging victorious over the hosts by 21 runs in Bangalore.
Australia’s win was set up by a superb opening stand between David Warner (124 off 119) and Aaron Finch (94 off 96), before a solid all-round effort from the bowlers restricted India to 313, well short of Australia’s 334.
The series might be gone, but Australia will still be out to avoid a whitewash against India when the two sides travel to Bangalore for the fourth ODI. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6pm (AEST).
Leading 3-0, India have dominated the series, with someone always bailing them out of trouble when needed.
After winning the first match through the Duckworth-Lewis method, they defended 252 in Kolkata, knocking Australia over for just 202.
Australia bowled reasonably well during that match, but their batting failed, and again bit the dust with the series on the line in Indore. In the third, the Aussies went from 2-224 when Aaron Finch got out for 124, to 6-293 at the end of their 50.
In response, both Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma went past 70, piling on 139 for the opening stand, and with the in-form Hardik Pandya following up with 78 from 72 balls, India won by five wickets with more than two overs to spare.
Pandya has 181 runs from the three games, with two half-centuries, while Rahane also has more than any other Australian batsman.
Most concerning is that Finch, who has played one game, is the Aussies’ highest run scorer, going past captain Steve Smith in the last contest – and with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni only hitting their stride once, and failing twice, India are nowhere near their potential.
Further compounding issues, Ashton Agar’s hand injury rules the young spinner out for the rest of the series. To be fair, figures of 2-125 from his 19 overs thus far don’t make for great reading anyway.
Nathan Coulter-Nile has been the tourists’ best and will need to lead from the front again, his series figures sitting at 7 for 153 from 30 overs. If India get away to another good start, it could be a long 50 overs in the field for the Aussies.
Prediction
India are in fine form and even the fact this is a dead rubber won’t change that. As for Australia, they’re a team who would much prefer to be on a plane heading home at this point.
Rain could play its part in the game though, and that’ll make life unpredictable.
India to win. Again.
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