Australia beat India by 32 runs in the third one-day international in Ranchi on Friday to keep the five-match series alive.
Fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson and leg-spinner Adam Zampa took three wickets each to dismiss the hosts for 281 in 48.2 overs. Australia made 313-5 in their 50 overs.
Opener Usman Khawaja smashed his maiden one-day international century to guide Australia to 313-5 in the third match against India.
The tourists rode on a 193-run opening stand between Khawaja, who hit 104, and skipper Aaron Finch, who made 93, to put up a challenging total after being put into bat first in Ranchi.
The right-left batting combination of Finch and Khawaja attacked the Indian bowlers with a string of boundaries as Australia reached 100 in the 17th over.
Finch, whose last significant one-day international score was a 100 in England in June 2018, struck form with his 19th ODI 50 but fell short of the three-figure mark after being trapped lbw off Kuldeep Yadav, who took three wickets.
His 99-ball knock was laced with 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Khawaja, who hit 11 fours and a six in his 113-ball knock, kept up the pace during a 46-run second-wicket stand with the in-form Glenn Maxwell, who made 47.
Khawaja fell to paceman Mohammed Shami and Maxwell, who smashed three fours and three sixes in his 31-ball blitz, was run out by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Yadav soon tried to check Australia s surge with his left-arm wrist spin as he sent back Shaun Marsh, for seven, and Peter Handscomb, for nought, in the space of three deliveries.
But Marcus Stoinis, on 31, and Alex Carey, on 21, put on an unbeaten 50-run stand to take Australia well past the 300-run mark.
INDIAN PLAYERS VIOLATE ICC RULES
During today’s match, the Indian cricket team donned army caps to pay tribute to the victims of Pulwama incident and the Indian army. While this may be done to show solidarity with the armed forces, it might actually be a breach of the ICC code of conduct.
One of the rules, under the sub-section ‘Personal Messages’, states: “Players and team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey personal messages through arm bands or items affixed to clothing or equipment (“Personal Messages”) unless approved in advance by both the player or team official’s Board and ICC Cricket Operations Department. Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to religious, political or racial activities or causes.”
The code of conduct further reads, “The ICC shall have the final say in determining whether any such message is approved. For the avoidance of doubt, where a message is approved by the player or team official’s Board but subsequently disapproved by the ICC Cricket Operations Department, the player or team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey such message in International matches.”
