Chahal, Dhoni script India’s ODI series victory in Australia

Yuzvendra Chahal wrecked Australia’s middle order with three quick wickets

MELBOURNE (Reuters): Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored his third successive half century to guide India to a seven-wicket victory in the series-deciding third one-day international against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday.

Dhoni, who was dropped twice in his innings and could have been run out too, made 87 not out as he combined with Kedar Jadhav (61 not out) to guide the tourists home with four balls remaining and complete India’s 2-1 series victory.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, making his first appearance in the series, had earlier finished with a career-best 6-42 to help dismiss Australia for 230 in 48.4 overs.

Australia had won the first match in Sydney last Saturday by 34 runs, before Dhoni and skipper Virat Kholi combined to give the visitors a final-over six-wicket victory in Adelaide on Tuesday.

The Australians only had themselves to blame for their defeat on Friday as they had several opportunities to turn the game their way.

Kohli (46) was dropped by Peter Handscomb at slip on 10, Dhoni was dropped by Glenn Maxwell at point on his first ball while both should have also been run out early in their partnership.

Dhoni was also dropped in the 48th over by Aaron Finch with India needing 27 runs from the final 18 deliveries.

The Australian bowlers had kept their side in the match with some tight bowling, which frustrated Kohli and also made the finish tighter than it should have been.

Dhoni and Jadhav, however, never looked flustered and ensured the victory in their unbroken 121-run partnership.

The Indians had also exploited the slow-paced pitch in Australia’s innings and set the tone early as they put pressure on the Australian openers and restricted their scoring.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar also continued to torment Finch as he dismissed both the Australian captain and Alex Carey to reduce the hosts to 27-2 in nine overs.

Kumar dismissed Finch in all three matches.

Usman Khawaja (34) and Shaun Marsh (39) steadied the innings with a 73-run partnership, but both fell to Chahal in the same over and their dismissals were typical of Australia’s innings with the batsmen getting starts but then falling at times when they looked well established to push on.

Handscomb top-scored with 58, but became Chahal’s fifth wicket with the score on 219-8 on the final ball of the 46th overs and just when he was needed to see his side through to the full allotment.

Scoreboard

India win by 7 wickets

 Australia  1st innings

 Alex Carey       c Virat Kohli b Bhuvneshwar Kumar               5

 Aaron Finch      lbw Bhuvneshwar Kumar                          14

 Usman Khawaja    c&b Yuzvendra Chahal                           34

 Shaun Marsh      st MS Dhoni b Yuzvendra Chahal                 39

 Peter Handscomb  lbw Yuzvendra Chahal                           58

 Marcus Stoinis   c Rohit Sharma b Yuzvendra Chahal              10

 Glenn Maxwell    c Bhuvneshwar Kumar b Mohammed Shami           26

 Jhye Richardson  c Kedar Jadhav b Yuzvendra Chahal              16

 Adam Zampa       c Vijay Shankar b Yuzvendra Chahal              8

 Peter Siddle     Not Out                                        10

 Billy Stanlake   b Mohammed Shami                                0

 Extras           0b 2lb 0nb 0pen 8w                             10

 Total            (48.4 overs)                          230 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-8 Carey, 2-27 Finch, 3-100 Marsh, 4-101 Khawaja, 5-123 Stoinis, 6-161 Maxwell, 7-206 Richardson, 8-219 Handscomb, 9-228 Zampa, 10-230 Stanlake

 Bowling             Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Bhuvneshwar Kumar    8   1  28   2  3.50

 Mohammed Shami     9.4   0  47   2  4.86  1w

 Vijay Shankar        6   0  23   0  3.83  2w

 Kedar Jadhav         6   0  35   0  5.83

 Ravindra Jadeja      9   0  53   0  5.89  4w

 Yuzvendra Chahal    10   0  42   6  4.20  1w

 .....................................................

 India  1st innings

 Rohit Sharma    c Shaun Marsh b Peter Siddle        9

 Shikhar Dhawan  c&b Marcus Stoinis                 23

 Virat Kohli     c Alex Carey b Jhye Richardson     46

 MS Dhoni        Not Out                            87

 Kedar Jadhav    Not Out                            61

 Extras          0b 1lb 0nb 0pen 7w                  8

 Total           (49.2 overs)                    234-3

Fall of Wickets : 1-15 Sharma, 2-59 Dhawan, 3-113 Kohli

Did Not Bat : Karthik, Shankar, Jadeja, Kumar, Shami, Chahal

 Bowling           Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Jhye Richardson   10   1  27   1  2.70  2w

 Peter Siddle       9   1  56   1  6.22  3w

 Billy Stanlake    10   0  49   0  4.90  1w

 Glenn Maxwell      1   0   7   0  7.00

 Adam Zampa        10   0  34   0  3.40

 Marcus Stoinis   9.2   0  60   1  6.43  1w