Shastri suggests Rohit to play the aggressor at No 6
Rohit Sharma’s decision to bat in the middle order in the Adelaide and Brisbane Tests, has failed to yield the desired results for the Indian team in the Border-Gavaskar series so far.
Steve Smith scored his first One Day International (ODI) ton in exactly three years by making 131 against India in the three-match series- decider at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday when Marnus Labuschagne scored his maiden ODI half-century.
Smith’s last century in 50-overs cricket had come on January 19, 2017, against Pakistan at the WACA. He scored an unbeaten 108 off 104 deliveries. He failed to reach another triple-figure mark in one year of ODI cricket that he played before being suspended for a year due to the ball-tampering scandal.
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On Sunday, the 31-year-old played 132 balls during his stay at the crease. He got out to Mohammed Shami as Shreyas Iyer took a brilliant catch diving forward at mid-wicket in the 48th over. His knock was graced by a total of 14 boundaries and one maximum for his score of 131.
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Labuschagne, on the other hand, who was playing only his second ODI innings scored 54 off 64 deliveries before getting out to Ravindra Jadeja. The 25-year-old hit five boundaries during his innings which was more about rotating the strike and playing the secondary role to Smith. The duo of Smith and Labuschagne shared a partnership of 127 runs for the third wicket.
IND vs AUS, 3rd ODI: Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (captain), Lokesh Rahul(wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch (captain), Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Ashton Turner, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa.
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