3rd ODI, Preview: India Play For Pride While Australia Can Experiment | Cricket News
What was being touted as quite a battle between Australia and India in the three-match One-day International series has ended up being quite a damp squib with the Indian bowlers failing miserably to impose any sort of control on the Australian batsmen, led by Steve Smith and Aaron Finch, leaving the visiting batters with mountains to climb in both matches, which they failed to do. So, down 0-2 in the series, India can only hope for a redeeming win in the match on Wednesday at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Australia, on the other hand, can field their reserve players as an investment for the future. In any case, they will miss the services of David Warner, who had suffered an injury while fielding in the last ODI.
While the Indians are not battling any major physical issues, the mental scars must be immense. The bowlers were completely out of both games once skipper Virat Kohli lost the tosses and thereafter, the batsmen were also left with insurmountable odds.
While India did cross the 300-run mark in both matches, the fact that they lost by 66 and 51 runs respectively speaks volumes for the difference.
The margins in fact could have been bigger – Australia looked good for 400 at least in the second game, while they did take the foot off the accelerator while in both games while fielding, affording some easy runs for the Indian lower order.
