Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir expressed his delight after India’s emphatic nine-wicket victory over Australia in the third and final ODI on Saturday, October 25, in Sydney. Despite the win, India lost the series 1–2 after displaying below-par batting performances in the first two matches in Perth and Adelaide, respectively.
Gambhir praised the bowlers for effectively restricting the Australian batters and for ticking all the boxes in the final ODI. He also commended the young right-arm pacer Harshit
Rana, who delivered an outstanding spell, finishing with figures of 4/39, which played a key role in limiting the hosts' scoring rate in the first innings on Saturday.
“We spoke about turning up today (for the 3rd ODI) wanting to do something special and we wanted to be desperate, we wanted to put our bodies on the line. And I think we did everything, we ticked all the boxes. Especially to start, I think the bowlers were outstanding. The kind of start Australia had 63/0, from there to restricting them all out on 237 was an outstanding effort. And special mention to Harshit. That was an outstanding spell. The part is to stay humble, stay calm and keep working hard, it's just this start, it's not the end,” said Gambhir in a BCCI video.
The former Indian opener also praised the top-order batters for completely outclassing the Australian bowlers. He lauded former captain Rohit Sharma for leading from the front and building two crucial partnerships, first with Shubman Gill and later with Virat Kohli. Gambhir congratulated Rohit on his century and commended the composure and experience displayed by both veterans during the successful run chase.
“And then with the bat, I thought that partnership between Shubman and Rohit was very very important when we were 60 for no loss. And then the partnership between Rohit and Virat is again outstanding, very clinical as well. And special mention to Rohit, another 100, outstanding and the most important thing was that you finished it off, and Virat as well. I thought that was something which was very important to the team's point of view as well. And how clinical we can be in these run chases and we were very good,” Gambhir said.
The action will now move onto the 20-over format, as the Men in Blue will be led by Suryakumar Yadav for five T20I matches against the Mitchell Marsh-led side. The first match of the series will be played on Wednesday, October 29 at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
