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Despite facing criticism over Harshit Rana’s selection in India’s playing XI for the first two matches of the ODI series against Australia, Indian team management retained him in the playing XI for the third ODI as well, and he repaid the faith by dismissing four Aussie batters for 39 runs on Saturday (October 25). His figures of 4 for 39 in 8.4 overs helped India bowl the hosts out for 236 runs in 46.4 overs and then chase down the 237-run target in 38.3 overs for the loss of only one wicket. After India secured a dominating win by nine runs in the third ODI to avoid a whitewash, India head coach Gautam Gambhir, in his dressing room speech, gave a special mention to Harshit for his bowling. “Special mention to Harshit; that was an outstanding spell,” Gautam Gambhir said in a video posted by BCCI. “What I want to say is stay humble, stay grounded, keep working hard. It’s just the start; it’s not the end,” he added. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Team India (@indiancricketteam) Gambhir also praised the Indian team for putting up a good show in the third ODI and ticking all the boxes. “We spoke about turning up today, wanting to do something special, and we wanted to be desperate; we wanted to be hungry. We wanted to put our bodies on the line. I thought we did everything; we ticked all the boxes.” “Especially to start with, I thought the bowlers were outstanding. The kind of start Australia had — 63 for no loss after 10 overs — and from there to restricting them to 237 was an outstanding effort,” he added. In the third ODI, Rohit Sharma scored 121 runs from 135 balls in the run chase. He hammered 13 fours and 3 sixes during his stay at the crease and added 168 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli, who remained unbeaten on 74 runs from 81 balls. The century by Rohit on Saturday is his ninth ODI hundred against Australia, 50th overall in international cricket and 5th ODI century against Australia in Australia. No other batter has scored more centuries against Australia in ODI matches played on Australian soil.
