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.
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.
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.