It wasn’t that good a ball, Suryakumar Yadav should have gone forward: Rohit Sharma.

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Just as Ashton Agar cleaned up Suryakumar Yadav‘s first ball in the third India-Australia ODI on Wednesday, the broadcast cameras panned to captain Rohit Sharma in the dugout, who was left as bamboozled as anyone else watching.

Suryakumar Yadav, India’s T20 sensation in the year gone by, had just fallen for a golden duck for a third consecutive ODI in a row. All three of his dismissals came without him connecting bat to the ball in the entire series which India lost 2-1, their first home ODI series defeat since 2019.

When asked about Surya’s form in the post-match conference, Rohit would say, “He only played three balls in three (games) this series. I don’t know how much to look into it. He got three good balls, to be honest.”

Surya’s dismissal in the chase of 270 came at a crucial juncture as Agar picked two wickets off two balls, Virat Kohli the delivery before, to put the momentum in Australia’s favor. In the first and second ODI, Mitchell Starc had got the better of the flamboyant right-handed batter following which Surya was pushed lower in the batting order from number four. However, on his dismissal in Chennai, the Indian skipper suggested the middle-order batter could have done better.

“Today, it wasn’t that good ball, he should have gone forward,” Rohit said. “He knows best. He plays spin so well. We have seen that over the last couple of years. That’s why we held him back and gave him that role for the last 15-20 overs where he can play his game, but it’s unfortunate he could only play three balls. That can happen to anyone. But the potential and ability is always there. He is just going through that phase right now.”

“Once we played the first 10 overs, the ball did not swing at all. There was no question of the swing where Surya could be troubled or anything like that. It was a tactical move. We wanted to use his potential at the back end along with Hardik. These two players would have been ideal for us but unfortunately, they got out.”

His dismissal on Wednesday added Surya in an unwanted tally of Indian batters who have been dismissed on golden ducks for three ODIs in a row, also including Sachin Tendulkar (1994), Anil Kumble (1996), Zaheer Khan (2003-04), Ishant Sharma (2010-11), Jasprit Bumrah (2017-2019).

With the series level 1-1, Australia had won the toss and opted to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, before being dismissed for 269. Mitchell Marsh (47 off 47) was the top scorer for the visitors for the third ODI in a row and finished the series with the most runs.

In their defense of the 270, Adam Zampa (4/45) and Ashton Agar (2/41) led the bowling attack. Australia emerged victorious by 21 runs despite India being 185//4 at one stage before Agar struck lightning twice.

Kheloge Mota, Tabhi to jitoge Mota.

MOTABET.COM