Watch: In the third ODI of the three-match series, against Chennai, Hardik Pandya bowled Mitchell Marsh in an 11-ball burst of three wickets.
After having taken a 1-0 lead in Mumbai, India were trounced by Australia in the second ODI, in Visakhapatnam. After the Australian fast bowlers shot out India for 117, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head had chased the target down in a mere 11 overs.
At Chennai, Marsh and Head seemed to take off from where they had left things in Visakhapatnam after Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat, racing to 61-0 after 10 overs.
Rohit Sharma introduced Pandya in the 11th over. Head hit Pandya’s second ball to deep square leg, where Shubman Gill dropped a difficult catch – and the ball went to the boundary.
Three balls later, Head (33 in 31 balls) uppercut Pandya to Kuldeep Yadav at deep third to finish the series with 89 runs (average 44.50, strike rate 125, 15 fours, two sixes). In his next over, Pandya had Smith caught behind for a duck.
However, the dangerous Marsh was still around, and he pulled Pandya for four in the next over. Pandya responded with a good-length ball just outside off. Marsh went for the drive, but the ball took the inside edge and flattened the middle stump.
Marsh walked back for a 47-ball 47, his only sub-50 score of the series. His series numbers read 194 at 97, with a strike rate of 131, and he has hit 24 fours and 12 sixes in 148 balls – roughly a boundary off every fourth ball.
At the time of writing, Australia are 111-3 in 21 overs, with David Warner – batting at No.4 – on 21 from 23 balls and Marnus Labuschagne on nine off 22.
