Team India lost the third and final ODI against Australia by 21 runs on March 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, their first loss in a home ODI series since 2019.
Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya each took three wickets in the first innings, and Virat Kohli scored the most runs for the hosts with 54. Additionally, Hardik contributed a useful run-a-ball 40. However, in the crucial game, others failed to perform.
The following is a list of three Indian players who were ineffective against Australia in the third one-day international.
#3 Suryakumar Yadav
Would have preferred to have his first ball bowled by a different bowler given that Suryakumar Yadav had golden ducks in both of his first two matches, both of which were caught in front by Mitchell Starc’s inswingers.
By putting Suryakumar in at No. 1, the Men in Blue helped Suryakumar get a good start. 7 when the circumstances permitted him to play aggressive cricket. Axar Patel, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya were sent ahead of him; SKY only needed to keep Hardik company in the middle.
Suryakumar lasted only one ball once more, which is amazing. He was cleaned up by an arm ball from Ashton Agar, who literally failed to put the bat on the ball for the third game in a row. The hosts were in a lot of trouble at 185/6 when he was run out, and the left-arm spinner took two wickets in his final over.
It would appear that Suryakumar is done playing ODI cricket for Team India.
#2 Rohit Sharma
It is unfair to place too much blame on Rohit Sharma because he has taken on his new aggressive position at the top of the hierarchy with a certain amount of selflessness. However, the shots he has been taking in an effort to be penalized have not been acceptable.
In the third ODI against Australia, Rohit hustled to 30 at a strike pace of very nearly 200, striking two fours and two sixes in his possibly match-characterizing thump. But in the final powerplay over, he played a pull shot that didn’t have enough conviction to go deep and cost him his wicket.
Over the past few years, Rohit has found a fielder on the square leg boundary far too frequently. The Indian captain needs to rethink how he approaches the short ball, which has proven to be both a boon and a curse for him.
Rohit’s performance was also subpar in the first inning. When it appeared that the hosts would be able to get away with a clearly subpar total, he allowed the Australian lower-order batters to accumulate far too many runs.
#1 KL Rahul
KL Rahul was one of the Men in Blue’s standout performers in the series opener, scoring an unbeaten 75 against a tough opponent. However, he failed in the second ODI and played a poor batting performance in the decider.
Rahul was elevated to No. 4 as the management of the team decided to relieve some of Suryakumar Yadav’s pressure, and the batter was unable to locate his timing at all. The 30-year-old batsman struggled to adjust to the surface’s pace, hitting 22 off 47 balls before scoring 10 runs off an over by Mitchell Starc.
However, in the very next over, Rahul attempted to clear Adam Zampa’s long-on boundary, who was clearly Australia’s greatest threat on the Chennai surface. He was holed out in the deep, and the shot’s intention and execution were highly questionable.