Indian middle-order crumbles as Australia record consolation win

Australia saved their best for the last as Indian middleorder crumbled under pressure exerted by parttime offspin of Glenn Maxwell losing the third ODI by 66 runs here on Wednesday India however won the series 21India were cruising along at 171 for 2 chasing a stiff target of 353 on a placid track but the middleorder crumbled in chase with Maxwell 440 getting crucial breakthroughs to restrict the hosts to 286 in 494 oversSkipper Rohit Sharma 81 and Kohli struck fifties to provide the middleorder with a perfect platform in the big chase but the rest floundered to hand Australia the advantageEarlier Mitchell Marsh 96 headlined Australias best batting show with David Warner Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne helping themselves to attacking halfcenturies during a commanding performance to break a fiveODI losing streakThe two teams will now play a couple of warmup games before meeting again in 10 days time for the tournamentopener in Chennai on October 8While Marsh missed reaching triple figure by a whisker Australias batters came good collectively in what was their last official ODI before the start of the World CupAlso ReadTeen Titas the toast of IndiaWarner had himself to blame for his dismissal after a fiery 56 off 34 balls 6x4s 4x6s but he set the tone for Australia early onSmith also put brakes on his poor run of scores to make a rapid 74 and towards the end Labuschagne upped the ante with his 58ball knock to help Australia post their challenging scoreLabuschagne also became Australias top rungetter in the ongoing calendar yearDuring the chase Rohit clobbered six sixes and five fours to race to 81 from 57 balls and recorded his ninth fifty against Australia and 53rd overall while Kohli who looked good for his 48th ODI ton had to settle for 66th halfcenturyThe two batters put on 70 for the second wicket and took India close to the 150run mark by the 21st over but after Rohit and Kohli were dismissed the others fumbled collectivelyMaxwell accounted for Washington Sundar 18 and then held onto a stunning reflex catch of Rohit had Kohli mistime a pullshot and fooled Shreyas Iyer 48 with a beauty to mark an impressive return after a sixmonth long injury layoffJosh Hazlewood took 242 and Cameron Green claimed 230 to provide ideal support for MaxwellRohit began with two spectacular sixes off Mitchell Starc over cover and pulled Pat Cummins twice over midwicket with command to provide early impetusThe India captain coming off a twogame break hit the straps immediately which also made up for the dot balls his firstwicket partner Washington Sundar consumedThe makeshift opener Washington Sundar pulled Hazlewood for his first four and smacked Cummins for a six iquest reminiscent of his famous six from the 202021 Australia tour but perished for 18 off 30 ballsRohit and Kohli went about their jobs unchallenged for the better part of their stand but their association came to an abrupt end in the 21st over when Maxwell taking an evasive action on a powerful shot from the India skipper ended up catching the ball onehandedMaxwell continued to make inroads as this time he got the key wicket of Kohli who looking to clear Steve Smith at midwicket got a top edge which was collected by the fielder running behindDespite a set platform to take the mantle Indias middleorder stuttered which allowed Australia to grab controlKL Rahul added 52 runs with Iyer for the fourth wicket but fell to Starc after a 30ball 26 and Suryakumar Yadav 8 pulled one short from Hazlewood to MaxwellMaxwell then cleaned up Iyer for a 43ball 48 1x4s 2x6s and Hazlewood had Kuldeep Yadav chop one onto his wicketsRavindra Jadeja scored 35 from 36 balls 3x4s 1x6s but had no batting partner left to try avoiding the inevitableWith agency inputs