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50 overs Australia 242 for 9 (Warner 53, Stoinis 46, Axar 3-38) v India
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Australia threatened to disintegrate after a good start yet again, Marcus Stoinis and Travis Head threatened to then take them out of the doldrums and to a winning total, but India struck back in the last 10 overs once again to reduce them to 242, which was not expected to be a straightforward total on what a dry and slow pitch that assisted their spinners. Australia went from 100 for 1 to 118 for 4 to 205 for 4 to their eventual total.
India’s frontline quicks Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah came back after the Bangalore defeat, but it was the slower bowlers who dragged Australia back with just 134 runs in the 30 overs between them. For the first time in his career, right-arm (almost) underarm Kedar Jadhav bowled his allotment of 10 overs and added Steven Smith to the illustrious list of batsmen he has dismissed, which includes Kane Williamson, David Warner, Angelo Mathews and Tamim Iqbal among others. Bumrah might not have had a great start with the new ball, but showed why Smith rates him so highly by knocking over Stoinis when he was looking to break free. Only 52 came in the last 10, one of which was a wicket-maiden bowled by Bumrah, who bowled three in the last 10 for just 11 runs.
It was clear at the start that Australia wanted to make the most of the fresh pitch before the spinners came on. There was an urgency to the opening partnership between Aaron Finch and David Warner, which was elped along by the short lengths bowled by India’s quicks, who were perhaps mindful of not pitching up on a pitch with zero assistance for them at that time. Ten fours were hit in the first 10 overs, which produced 60 runs. Only two of those were intentional front-foot efforts.
Perhaps aware of the dangers of spin, Finch took the extra risk in Hardik Pandya’s second over, the innings’ 12th, and paid for it through lack of bounce. The intended chip over mid-off came off the toe end and settled with the man. This was Finch’s first score of under 50 in three attempts this series, but Warner carried on with Smith. India took Kuldeep Yadav off even though he had bowled a maiden, and frustrated the batsmen with the combination of Jadhav and Axar Patel.
Smith, who began with a four hit off a plum half-volley from Pandya, was not frustrated by the lack of pace from Jadhav. This has been an uncharacteristic series for Smith where he seems to have allowed the frustrations of captaining a faltering team creep into his batting. The assuredness that has been his hallmark has been missing. Unable to get Jadhav out of his face – three overs for just 11 runs – Smith finally played the big sweep to a straight length ball. He was both early and over the bounce of the ball.
Soon, looking to chip over midwicket, Warner got too close to an Axar Patel and ended up holing out to long-on for 53. Peter Handscomb, who seemed to have turned a corner in Bangalore, soon chose an ambitious sweep off Axar as opposed to steady accumulation and perished.
In the balcony, Smith looked exasperated; there were 25 overs to go and this could become ugly. Stoinis and Head, though, made sure it didn’t. Neither of them was done yet as they were likely to be effective with the ball, especially after Head bowled six handy overs in Bangalore. They played Jadhav only down the ground with Stoinis taking the odd risk every now and then. Stoinis did enjoy some good fortune as he edged Axar three times without getting caught. Two of these went between MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane, who stood a touch too wide at slip, with his left foot outside the return crease.
Stoinis began to look dangerous as the last 10 overs approached. He hit Jadhav for a four and a six in his last over, and then went after Kuldeep in the 40th. Before signing off, though, Axar sent back Head with a fast yorker, which Head had already premeditated to sweep. Then it was all down to Bumrah, who first produced just enough movement to trap Stoinis and then handcuffed the rest. Only two boundaries came in the last 10 overs with Bhuvneshwar playing an able supporting role to Bumrah.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo