During the third ODI match against Australia, veteran opening batsman Rohit Sharma became the seventh Indian to complete 100 catches in the 50-over format, whereas pacer Harshit Rana levelled the record of former spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the most wickets for Team India after the first eight ODI matches.
During Australia`s innings, Rohit claimed two catches of Mitchell Owen and Nathan Ellis to accomplish the feat. With this, he joined the likes of Virat Kohli (164), Mohammad Azharuddin (160), Sachin Tendulkar (140), Rahul Dravid (124), Suresh Raina (102) and Sourav Ganguly (100).
For his first of the day, Rohit, stationed at the slip, comfortably pouched the thick outside edge of Owen that flew to him off Harshit Rana. For his second, Ellis, who tried to make the most of Prasidh Krishna`s low full toss, holed out to Rohit on 16(19).
On the other hand, Harshit showcased his immense skills with the ball. Bowling 8.4 overs, he conceded 39 runs and bagged four wickets. This also helped the pacer to take his tally to 16 wickets. With this, he has now levelled the record with legendary spinner Ashwin, who also registered 16 wickets after his first eight ODI matches.
Prasidh Krishna, Ajit Agarkar, with 19 wickets each and lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah (17) are the only players with more wickets than Harshit for the “Men in Blue”.
Riding on the 23-year-old pacer`s four-wicket haul, Team India managed to bowl out the Aussies for 236 runs in 46.4 overs.
Harshit was instrumental in orchestrating one of Australia`s worst batting collapses in their rich ODI history. There haven`t been many instances of Australia cruising at a 180-plus score for a loss of three wickets and then crumbling against the opposition attack.
However, India ensured to put a dent in their impeccable record by forcing them to crumble from 183/3 to 236. Australia lost its last seven scalps for a mere 53 runs, resulting in the hosts falling well short of exploiting Sydney`s high-scoring conditions.
Matt Renshaw and skipper Mitchell Starc were the top performers for Australia in the third ODI match. Facing 58 balls, Renshaw smashed 56 runs, with the help of two boundaries. Marsh accumulated 41 runs in 50 deliveries, which was laced with five boundaries and a maximum.
(With ANI Inputs)