Rohit Sharma inspects the pitch during a practice session at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.© AFP
Ahead of the third and final ODI match between India and Australia on Wednesday, Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) secretary Himanshu Shah said that the stadium will be packed since all the tickets are sold out. Himanshu said that the outfield of the stadium had been changed before the third ODI game and added that the pitch is batting-friendly. The secretary of the SCA also hoped that the last match before the ODI World Cup would be exciting. “The third and last ODI match between India and Australia will be played in Rajkot. For this match, the outfield of the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot has been completely renewed. The entire stadium will be packed because all the tickets are sold out, and the wicket is also very batting-friendly. We are sure that this last match before the World Cup will be very exciting,” Himanshu Shah said.
In the second ODI match between India and Australia, the Men in Blue was put to bat first by Australia. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer played a 200-run partnership. Later in the match, KL Rahul played a 52-run knock and completed his half-century and on the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav made 72 runs from 37 balls which pushed India at 399/5 in 50 overs.
Cameron Green took two wickets for Australia in the first inning, but gifted 103 runs. Josh Hazlewood, Sean Abbott and Adam Zampa took a wicket each.
In the second inning, the Aussies were reduced to 9/2 and rain interrupted the action. Following this, the target was reduced to 317 runs in 33 overs.
An 80-run partnership between David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne helped Australia to get back in the game.
But after this, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja led the bowling attack and scalped three wickets each and helped India clinch a 99-run win against the Aussies.
India has won the series 2-0 with one match to go.
India will start their ODI World Cup journey against Australia on October 8 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
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