Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
Riding on Rohit Sharma’s 119 and skipper Virat Kohli’s 89 on Sunday, India registered a 7-wicket win in the third and final ODI against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Rohit was declared the Player of the Match, whereas Kohli was declared the Player of the Series. The Delhi lad scored 183 runs in the series.
On Sunday, Rohit scored his 29th ODI ton, whereas Kohli missed his 44th ton by 11 runs as India chased down 287 with 15 balls to spare. Earlier, Steve Smith’s 131 had propelled Australians to 286 for 9 after Aaron Finch had opted to bat.
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Smith brought up his ninth ODI century in 117 balls, which was his third against India. His swashbuckling knock included 14 fours and a six.
However, a meagre target of 287 that too on a Bengaluru wicket was never going to trouble a world-class Indian batting lineup. But given that Shikhar Dhawan could not have batted for India due to shoulder injury, the Men in Blue needed to be conservative during their chase.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul (19) opened the Indian innings with Rohit. The pair added 69 runs for the opening wicket before Rahul was dismissed by Ashton Agar in 13th over.
After the wicket, Kohli and Rohit stitched 137 runs for the second wicket and took the match away from the clutches of the guests. However, Rohit fell to Adam Zampa after his swashbuckling innings which was laced 8 fours and 6 sixes, and Kohli’s grittiness succumbed to Josh Hazlewood.
Shreyas Iyer (44* off 35) and Manish Pandey (8* off 4) took India home with ease.
Brief scores: Australia 286/9 (Steve Smith 131, Marnus Labuschagne 54; Mohammad Shami 4/63) vs India 289/3 (Rohit Sharma 119, Virat Kohli 89; Ashton Agar 1/38)
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