Left-arm spinner Axar Patel took 3 for 38 to help India restrict Australia to just 242 -9 in the first innings of the fifth and the final ODI at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in the “Orange” city of Nagpur.
The Australians put up a mediocre performance with the bat which was nowhere close to the performance they displayed a couple of days ago in Bengaluru which led to their first win of the series.
As expected, Australia chose to bat first after winning the toss on a slow and dry wicket. The effect of the pitch report was not visible on the opening duo of Aaron Finch and David Warner though as they once again gave a healthy start to kick off the proceedings on a positive note.
Together the duo added 66 for the opening wicket before Finch was dismissed for 33 by Hardik Pandya. The right arm medium pacer once again proved handy in providing a breakthrough for India.
The game turned in favor of the host from this stage as the batting faced a minor yet significant downfall which hurt their run rate.
After Finch’s departure, Warner went on to complete his 16th ODI fifty before witnessing Steven Smith lose his wicket to the part-time spin of Kedar Jadhav in the 20th ODI.
After Kedar’s stunning blow, Axar Patel further brought down Australia by picking wickets in consecutive overs.
Warner also couldn’t survive for long after reaching his fifty and became Axar Patel first victim of the day, caught by Manish Pandey in the 23rd over. The left-arm spinner then came back again to leave Australia at 118/4 after he snapped up the wicket Peter Handscomb.
This twin blow put Australia in a bothersome situation.
Fortunately, Travis Head, who had only failures to show in his performance card, and the talented Marcus Stoinis began the damage control rather than adding to the trouble by losing their wickets.
The pair successfully took Australia out of the pit and took the side past the 200 run mark by adding 87 for the 5th wicket.
But, despite this major effort, they would curse themselves for the reason they were not able to give the finishing touches to the Australian innings. Both of them lost their wicket in short succession just after the start of the last ten overs to leave Australia in a tricky situation once again.
Fortunately, Travis Head, who had only failures to show in this series, and the talented Marcus Stoinis began the damage control rather than adding to the trouble by losing their wickets.
The pair successfully took Australia out of the pit and took the side past the 200 run mark by adding 87 for the 5th wicket.
But, despite this major effort, they would curse themselves for the reason they were not able to give the finishing touches to the Australian innings. Both of them lost their wicket in short succession just after the start of the last ten overs to leave Australia in a tricky situation once again.