Team India slumped to a rare ODI series loss after their 21-run defeat in the third ODI against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday (March 22). With this loss, India surrendered the three-match ODI series 2-1 to Steve Smith’s Australians.


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India captain Rohit Sharma came down hard on the India batters after they failed to chase down 270 runs to win, bowled out for 248 with Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa picking up a four-wicket haul. India lost a bilateral ODI series at home after four years and it was Australia under Aaron Finch that had beaten Virat Kohli’s side back in 2019.


“I don’t think it was too many runs (269). The wicket was a little challenging towards the second half. I don't think we batted well. Partnerships are crucial, and we failed to do that today,” Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation.


“The mode of dismissals... You are born and brought up on these wickets. Sometimes you need to apply yourself, and give yourself a chance. It was important for one batter to carry on and take the game deep. But all of us were trying our best; it just didn’t happen,” he added.


However, Rohit feels that the nine home ODIs since January has ensured plenty of positives for his side ahead of this year’s ODI World Cup.


“The nine ODIs we have played since January, we can take a lot of positives from that,” he said.


 



There is no denying that there is a lot of room for improvement. “We need to understand where we need to improve. It's a collective failure, we can take a lot of learnings from this series. Credit to the Australians. Both the spinners applied the pressure and so did their seamers,” the Indian skipper added.


Stand-in Australian skipper Steve Smith summed it up as an ‘enjoyable tour’. Australia lost the four-match Test series 2-1 but managed to qualify for the World Test Championships Final, where they will face India and then once again came from behind to win the ODI series.


“It has been an enjoyable tour. The way we fought back after that (Delhi) Test match. It is just playing conditions for us. This wicket was different... I thought we left a few out there. It was just a really good performance. We continued taking wickets throughout... The way the tail stuck around and got us to 270; at one point, we weren’t getting to 220,” Smith felt.