Australia win toss, elect to bowl against India

MS Dhoni light-heartedly dismissed questions over his leadership after India were consigned to defeat in their one-day global series against Australia on Sunday.

India superstar Kohli supplied some lovely strokes and good running to build his century off 105 balls, also putting on a second-wicket partnership worth 129 with Dhawan (68) and another 109-run stand with Ajinkya Rahane (50).

“I broke my number one bat which was a bit annoying. We would have to put a PIL to judge my performance as the skipper”, Dhoni said.

“We did not field well, we conceded three boundaries that we should have easily stopped and those were the best fielders in the side”.

Shaun Marsh sprinted in off the rope but was unable to collect the ball before it hit the turf.

Needing 65 runs off the last 10 overs, Maxwell hit Umesh Yadav for a six and a four in the 43rd over that produced 15 runs and proved the turning point in the thrilling contest. A stumping off George Bailey was judged to millimetre precision, and Mitchell Marsh was run out because he couldn’t make out from Dhoni’s body language that a throw had been fired in at his end.

Virat Kohli has become the fastest man to score 7000 runs in One-Day International cricket, but South African star Hashim Amla remains well on track to take the record for himself. As Kohli hit James Faulkner delivered ball, the two had a small exchange of words.

Maxwell’s knock overshadowed the sensational work of Kohli, whose masterclass with a superb 117 off as many balls proved insufficient as Australia chased them down for the third successive match. Though Maxwell fell with one run still required, James Faulkner finished the deal with seven balls to spare. Kangaroos has rested Josh Hazlewood for the remainder of 3 ODIs while John Hastings has grabbed his chance with both hands bowling skilfully and accurately when needed the most.

The 27-year-old’s effort was not enough to help India secure their first win of the series, with their 6/295 getting pipped by Australia’s 7/296 for a insurmountable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

India lost Rohit Sharma (6) early in the innings as he edged a Kane Richardson (1-48) delivery to the wicket-keeper in the fifth over.

“There are two options: either put pressure on the batsmen and score 330, or chase down the score, give them the batting first”.

After India had failed to defend a total in the region of 300 for the third time in a week, Mahendra Singh Dhoni voiced his displeasure at some of the ordinary fielding and bowling.