Decider ODI of series 18-19 in Melbourne Stadium

The third and final ODI of the series between India and Australia of 2018-19 is beginning on 18th of January 2019at the Melbourne Stadium.The first two were won respectively at Sydney and Adelaide by Australia and India respectively locking the series1-1 So this match assumes ultimate importance to decide the winner.As India earlier won the Test series 2-1,it is more or less a prestigious issue for Australia to win the ODI series while India needs yet another series win especially when the World Cup is fast approaching in England. Hence a thriller of gem of a match is in the offing. The second ODI began on time .India had won the toss.But elected to field .The reason for this was obvious.The rain was waiting for Indian BowlerBhuvaneswar to Bowl the first two balls of the first over to stike and promtly did it. Australia had one run from first ball faced by Carey. There had been a break for some time. The Australian open Tennis too was going on I which Roger Federer wastaking on Fritz.Federer had won the first set when I started viewing the match at 6-2. In the meantime the cricket resumed in Melbourne .In the 3rd over of the Australian innings Carey was caught brilliantly by Virat Kohli.n.Bhuvanrswar Kumar for indvidual score of5 runs ,the wicket falling at 8/1. UT.Kawaja joined the openerAaron Finch.Both together started building the score gradually. In the meantime in Australian Open Roger Federer completed the match by beating Fritz in 3 Straight sets of 6-2,7-5,&6-3. Coming back to Cricket ,Finch and Kawaja whileenhancing their score to respectability ,in the 9thover,Aaron Finch fell for a third time in a row to Bhuvanesh Kumar for a paltry 14 runs when an inswinger from Bhuvanesh Kumar trapped him in front of the wicet. The score card read 27/2.it was a big blow for the Australians.The match progressed without any damage systematically to a healthy 80/2 in the 20th over at a good run rate of 4 per over. In the 24th over,however, Shawn Marsh who had joined Khawaja was stumped by MSDhoniIn the very first over bowled by Chahal when he was on 39 runs.The wide ball bowled by Chahal would have become waste to add one run to their score .But since Marsh was ahead of crease the ball when removed the bails had the effect of a run out which usually called stumped. The unfortunate wicket took the score to 100/3.Adding more profound sorrow to the Australians ,in the same over,Chahal had UTKhawaja caught and bowled for 34 runs.The scorecard read a low score of 101/4 which was just over 4 runs per over. Soon after in the 30th over,Stoinis too fell for just 10 runs to his credit.123/5 stared at the Australians threateningly. Glen Maxwell was the next batsman to return to pavilion in the 35th over for individual score of 26 runs.161/6. Richardson and Handscomb we're in the process of building a respectful score for Australians thereafter.Handscomb was the only batsman who made a half century in the process. I He made 58 runs. In the meantime,Richardson also fell at 206/7 when his individual score was just16 runs. Thereafter what witnessed was a procession of falling wickets like a pack of cards. 8th,9th,and10th wicket fell in the form of Handscomb,Zampa&Stanlake for 58,8,&,0 respectively.The final score of Australia was not very competitive being just 230 runs fixing a Target of 231 for the Indians to make.Peter middle remained not out. The teams departed for a break before the Indians we're to come in for their innings. The Indian Innings began as usual.Notjimg of any specialiality.Rohi Sharma who is usually capable of building big scores by hitting sixes,has also a reputation of not playing well when absolutely necessary. Today also he sticker to his reputation & Returned to Pavilion without even seeing A double digits score being a mere 9 runs. This was a shock for the team where 3 new players have been included .One a debutant bowler cum bats man .Chahal a new face in this series though an experienced bowler showed his ability to bowl successfully by taking three important wickets of Australia thereby restricting them to 230. All factors are in favour of India although batting is uncertain at the moment with Rohit Sharma back in Pavilion.Shiksr Dhavan duringvthr tecent Pas in this series did not Excel Unlike when he plyed in India in this match, however,he looked as if he was going to score well but fell cheaply like Rohit Sharma by just adding 14 runs to the score of the former. On hids departure ,MSDhoni joined at the crease with Kohli. He had the biggest life he ever had in one day international when he gave an easy catch at the slip from the first ball he faced.But for the luck of his motherland,he might have joined the openers in the pavilion.He was eventually dropped by the Australian player.Once dropped early ,there is a a convention not proved beyond doubt that the dropped player last for longer! As though to prove the convention in the affirmative Dhoni and Kohli have taken the score to 104(not out) from 59when he was dropped.The partnership is looking good in the 30th over. Now India need 108 runs from 102 balls with 7 wickets remaining in the innings. Looks easy to get . But time alone can tell the result of the match. MSD&KedarJhadav together played systematically with a lot of understanding in reducing the required runs to make it overcome the number of balls available.During this process they kept the team and Spectators in the stadium and all over the world in suspense But both of them kept their cool in attacking the baks suitably. In the 42nd over a review appeal was made by Australian captain regarding a LBW decision.lt took more than 5 minutes to deny the appeal to decide in favour of India.Thatvwas in fact a blessing in disguise for Dhoni as he needed rest to reduce fatigue from running a lot to take the score to the target. Theresfter it was just plans executed fittingly in reducing runs to suit balls. In the final over 1 run was required from 4 balls. No mistake was made either by Dhoni or Jhadav in ensuring a tremendous victory at the famous Melbourne Stadium. Thus after a long time India win a series of onedayer in Melbourne. Man of the Match was unanimous decision in favour of Dhoni. He was the highest scorer of the match. In completing his task he had an element of luck too by way of dropping in the very first ball he played and later onvtowards the end. The beauty of the game today was ,hoeever,the number of singles acquired by both Dhobi and Jhadav. So finally it has been proved in Adelaide and Melbourne that MSD is undoubtedly the saviour of India under any circumstances. It was a very rare sight to view the Melbourne stadium withoutbleaving an inch of space to occupy. A real feastfir cricket lovers all over the world.It is not as easy as it looks to plan and execute a win in cricket. Cricket is a Glorious Game of Uncertainty!. Sreedharan Mundanat