India lost the series against Australia again

The match was swinging like a pendulum. Once towards India, after a while towards Australia. But in the end it was the visitors who got a thrilling victory by 21 runs. Steve Smith has also climbed to the top of the one-day cricket rankings by winning the three-match series 2-1.

On the other hand, after four years, India got the bitter taste of an ODI series loss on home soil. Before that, they lost the five-match series 3-2 to Australia in 2019.

However, India was on the way to victory in the chase of 250 runs. However, the hosts lost their way soon after Virat Kohli's dismissal. Captain Hardik Pandya's spirited efforts at the end did not help.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat first in Chennai on Wednesday (March 22). The two openers, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head, also started very well. They were running fast. Marsh looked more aggressive. It is as if he started in Chennai from where he ended in Visakhapatnam.

Hardik brought India back into the game. Coming to bowl, Shubman Gill caught his ball on the head in the first over. But Hardik dismissed Head for 33 runs in that over. In the next over, he returned the Aussie captain Steve Smith. Hardik gave Australia a big blow by dismissing the formidable Marsh in his third over. Marsh was dismissed for 47 runs.

After 3 wickets, David Warner and Marnesh Labuchen tried to tie the pair. Warner scored 23 and Labuschenne scored 28 runs. Alex Careo was also dismissed for 38 runs. Wickets were falling at regular intervals. After Hardik, Kuldeep Yadav gave a surprise with the ball. He returned Australia's middle order. Sean Abbott scored 26 runs in the last over. Australia were all out for 269 runs in 49 overs. Among the Indian bowlers, Hardik and Kuldeep took 3 wickets each. Mohammad Siraj and Akshar Patel took 2 wickets each.

Rohit and Shubman got off to a good start chasing runs. They were playing aggressive shots against Mitchell Starc who had troubled India with the new ball in the previous two matches. It looked like the day belonged to India. But Rohit got out against the pace of the game. He got out after hitting a big shot off Abbott for 30 runs off 17 balls. Shortly after that, Shubman was dismissed for 37 runs.

After the fall of two wickets, Virat Kohli and Lokesh Rahul tied the pair. Virat was playing brilliantly. Rahul played a slow game in the beginning but opened his arms later on. 69 runs between them. Rahul got out while playing a big shot after 32 runs. After that, India lost the match. Although Akshar was dropped earlier for quick runs, he returned to the dugout after 2 runs due to a misunderstanding with Kohli.

Agar gave the biggest blow to Rohit. He dismissed Virat and Suryakumar in two consecutive balls. Virat was dismissed for 52 runs. Surya got out for zero runs in the first ball in all three matches of this series. India lost 6 wickets for 185 runs.

Hardik and Jadeja were at the crease then. Hardik looked fluent. Even under pressure, he was batting fluently. India's victory depended on this pair. But after 40 runs, Hardik got out with a jumper. Jadeja was also sent to the dressing room by the spinner. Zampa took 4 wickets. There was no possibility of India returning from there. In the end, Rohit's innings ended with 248 runs. India lost the match by 21 runs.