Marsh, Maxwell star in Australia consolation win

Australia 352/7 (Marsh 96, Smith 74, Labuschagne 72, Bumrah 3-81) beat India 286 (Rohit 81, Kohli 56, Maxwell 4-40) by 66 runs

Rajkot: India has faced defeat in the last match of the three-match ODI series against Australia.

In the match played on Wednesday (27 September) in Rajkot, the visiting team won by 66 runs.

After this defeat, India's dream of making a clean sweep for the first time in the bilateral ODI series against Australia also remained unfulfilled. This was the last international match of both the teams before the World Cup to be held from October 5.

Team India will go to the World Cup with a defeat. At the same time, the Kangaroo team will enter the tournament with a win.

The first match of both the teams in the World Cup is also against each other. The teams of India and Australia will start their campaign on October 8 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Australia has won the World Cup five times and India twice. Both the teams are contenders to win the trophy this time.

Captain Rohit Sharma scored the highest 81 runs for India. Virat Kohli played an inning of 56 runs and Shreyas Iyer played an inning of 48 runs, but could not lead the team to victory.

Ravindra Jadeja contributed 35 runs and KL Rahul contributed 26 runs. Washington Sundar came to open and was out after scoring 18 runs.

Earlier, Australian opener David Warner's explosive fifty followed by outstanding batting by Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith powered Australia to score a mammoth total of 352/7.

Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers for India as he dismissed three batters.

Kuldeep Yadav got two wickets, while Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna picked up one wicket each.

Elected to bat first, Australia were looking confident and aggressive in their approval as they collected 50 runs in just 6.1 overs.

Warner brought his fifty in style after hitting a six in the 8th over. He scored fifty in 32 balls; however, his innings ended in the 9th over when Prasidh Krishna cleared up at 56.

Australia did not lose their momentum as they continued to bat excellently.

Mitchell Marsh also clinched fifty in 45 balls. He was unstoppable, hitting a boundary in almost every over. He punished experienced Bumrah for 19 runs in the 23th over with three fours and one six.

After two disappointing outings, Smith scored fifty in 44 balls. He brought his fifty by hitting a boundary in Bumrah’s bowling.

Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav got the much-needed break, after he dismissed Mitchell Marsh in the 28th over. Marsh missed his century as he got out at 96 off 84 balls.

India made a comeback into the game as they cleared the set batter Smith in the 32nd over. He was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj at 74 off 61 balls.

Bumrah with his stunning Yorker bowled Glenn Maxwell. Kuldeep picked up his second wicket by dismissing Cameron Green at 9.