India defeated Australia by five wickets in the third One-Day International in Indore to take an unassailable lead in the series. India took a 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against Australia. Cricket pundits have predicted that the Indian team will go on to win the ODI series 5-0. With the loss in the third ODI, Australia has now lost 11 consecutive One-day Internationals.
Former Indian opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar who is usually very critical of the Indian team’s performance has reckoned in the past that comparing teams of different eras is not right. However, Gavaskar has stated that this Indian side may go down as the greatest ever by the time they finish their careers. He feels that this Indian team has world-class batsmen and bowlers.
Gavaskar said:
“Well, comparisons are not quite correct but this is a very, very good team. I think by the time this team finishes, I think it is going to go down as the greatest Indian one-day team ever. Because the balance is so good. The batting is right down to number 8 or 9. You have bowlers who can bowl, whatever, whenever they are asked and therefore, I think you take all aspects into consideration and you know that this is a really, really special team, captained by a very special player.”
When asked if India’s strong side made the present Sri Lanka and Australia look ever weaker, he said:
” No. The Sri Lankan team wasn’t a very strong team and that’s only fair but this Australian team is an experienced team. Probably not the same kind of batting line-up as Hayden, Gilchrist or Ponting, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey were there but I think this is a very good Australian team. The Australians never give up and I think, what they are missing at the moment is one more batsman who can make a difference and they are missing one more bowler. But as far as India is concerned, they are not choosing the team that takes the field against them.”
Kohli’s approach has also impressed Gavaskar as he said:
“They are just playing against them. And as Virat Kohli said, they are going to be ruthless and they are going to be relentless, they are going to be pursuing victory in every game and the fact that in all three games they were put under pressure, which never happened apart from one game in Sri Lanka, when Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took them home, over here in all three games they were put under some sort of pressure but to come through that pressure and go on to win easily is the hallmark of a great team, a champion team.”