It was India’s first series loss at home since losing 2-3 to Australia in March 2019. In between, India played 7 ODI series at home and won each of them.
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But on Wednesday, Australia edged India overall to register a 21-point victory.
As it happened
In the tough 270 chase, India got off to a spirited start but then lost steam as the Australians kept the pressure on the batters. Spinners Zampa and Agar shared six wickets to stifle the hosts in pursuit.
India were eventually knocked out for 248 in 49.1 overs as Australia returned to the series after losing the first ODI by five wickets.
The series loss is an indicator that the Indian team is far from prepared for the World Cup and there are too many details to iron out.
The match proved to be an anti-climax in the final 15 overs as Australian spinners Zampa (4/45) and Agar (2/41 in 10 overs) gave up just 86 runs in the 20 overs between them and took a total of 6 wickets.
The Chepauk track got slower and slower and after 35th in the Indian heats it became very difficult to hit the big shots.
Once Zampa threw a few googlies to force Hardik Pandya (40 from 40 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (1 from 33 balls) to hit against the turn, the writing was on the wall.
It was Zampa’s best tricks against India and he was certainly the Australians’ hero.
Incidentally, Australia were the last international team to beat India in a bilateral ODI series in 2019. The scoreline at the time was 3-2. Since losing this series four years ago, India have won seven consecutive bilateral ODI rubber matches at home.
It was three games in a row that the Indian top flattered to deceive and that too under home conditions. They could have been shut out 3-0 in the series had Australia scored at least 235 in the opening ODI.
The best run-getter for India in the series was KL Rahul with 116 runs and that tells the story.
Between overs 35-43, India only managed 31 runs and that’s where the game went downhill.
Skipper Rohit Sharma (30 from 17 balls) started well but played one shot too many to be drilled at the deep square-leg fence while an alert decision from Alex Carey to convince Steve Smith to take a DRS saw the back of Shubman Gill (37 off 49 balls).
Rahul (32 from 50 balls) joined Virat Kohli (54 from 72 balls) and the duo added 69 runs in 15.3 overs but were never able to dominate as such on a track that was slowed down over time.
Kohli’s first limit came on his 21st delivery, a shot from Agar and two balls later from Tamil Nadu he hit a royal six from Agar to extra coverage.
Rahul’s first limit came on his 45th ball when he hit Zampa over his head for a four. Then Starc fired from wide out of the crease, but the length ball was hit for a straight six.
However, a Zampa shot into the blockhole was dug in by Rahul but Abbot timed his jump well to keep it on the edge.
Then it was Agar’s turn to quickly dismiss Kohli and out-of-form Suryakumar Yadav (0) for his third first-ball duck in as many games.
From 146 to 2, India had fallen to 185 to 6 when Pandya and Jadeja joined forces with the Australian defenders close together, which made the task infinitely difficult.
But Pandya, however, maintained a strike rate of over 100 despite tight opposition bowling.
Earlier, a good opening spell from Pandya and a probing effort from Kuldeep Yadav put a tight leash around the Aussie batters before his tail waggled dramatically to take the visitors to a 269 fight in 49 overs after picking to beat first.
The five wickets added 131 to keep Australia in the game.
While Pandya (3/44 in 8 overs) razed the top half, the pace and craftiness of Kuldeep (3/56 in 10 overs) on a useful track from Chennai were the biggest takeaways as the delivery of this last to eliminate Carey was the series ball.
It was the broken leg of a classic left wrist spinner who beat the left leg at the end and Kuldeep’s ecstasy was there to be seen.
India were in control after bringing Australia down to 138 for 5, but a stand of 58 between Carey and Marcus Stoinis for the sixth wicket and 42 for the eighth wicket between Sean Abbott (26) and Ashton Agar (17) brought them close to 250 while Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa added a valuable 22 runs for the final wicket.
What looked like a good shot up for Australia after Mitchell Marsh (47 from 47 balls) and Travis Head (33 from 31 balls) put in 68 for the opening stand didn’t seem like it as Pandya got played three different deliveries in his first three overs to completely capture the momentum in the hosts’ favour.
David Warner (23 from 31 balls) and Marnus Labuschagne (28 from 45 balls) paid dearly for their selection of prying shots on the Kuldeep bowling alley before Carey (38 from 46 balls) played his first innings of substance on the final day of a long almost two-month tour.
(With PTI entries)
