Yuzvendra Chahal had to pay the price for the absence of a pace-bowling allrounder in the Indian team right now. With Hardik Pandya suspended, India had to play Ravindra Jadeja in the first two ODIs against Australia. But a poor performance from Kuldeep Yadav in the second game, where he went wicketless for 66 runs off his 10 overs, opened the doors for Chahal. India recalled the leg-spinner for the ongoing third and final ODI and Chahal was quick to show the team-management how wrong it was to axe him for the first two games.
The leg-spinner created history by becoming only the second Indian spinner to pick up a five-wicket haul in Australia and the first overseas spinner to pick up six wickets in an ODI on the Australian soil. Chahal finished the game with stunning figures of 6 for 42 off his 10 overs. In the process, he broke his previous best ODI spell of 5 for 22. His career-best spell helped India dismiss the hosts for just 230 inside 49 overs.
Chahal put India in the driver’s seat by dismissing in-form duo Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh inside an over to reduce Australia to 101 for 4. He went on to dismiss Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Adam Zampa to create history.
Following his stunning spell, former India opener Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to praise the leggie, writing:
“Wah ji @yuzi_chahal , Chahalka macha rakha hai . 6 wicket , Shaabash”
Wah ji @yuzi_chahal , Chahalka macha rakha hai . 6 wicket , Shaabash
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) January 18, 2019
India, meanwhile, are eyeing their first ever bilateral ODI-series win in Australia. The tour has been a historic one for the visitors. They started their Australia tour by drawing the T20I series 1-1 before winning a historic Test series. The hosts bounced back by winning the first ODI before India won the second to level the series. A win in the ongoing game will be the perfect end to India’s memorable stay in Australia.
After this game, India will fly to New Zealand for the limited-overs tour that consists of five ODIs and three T20Is.