Series sealed, now time to make history. India are on the cusp of recording a clean sweep of Australia -- a feat never before achieved in history. Neither of them have achieved such a result, home or away, irrespective of the number of matches played in a series. The setting is Rajkot. Rohit Sharma would fancy a perfect culmination to the Indian team's 2023 ODI World Cup preparations with a clean sweep of the most successful team in the competition's history -- the five-time champions. Follow the third and final IND vs AUS ODI being played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. (Scorecard | Streaming | Asian Games Live | Cricket News)
1:58 pm: Solid Start to Australia
Australian openers are smashing Indian bowlers hard, and scoring runs from all over the ground. David Warner 43*(27) and Mitch Marsh 22*(15) have given a solid start to the Australia. In his first over, Prasidh Krishna conceded 19 runs with 3 fours and one six.
AUS - 65/0 (7)
1:30 pm: Match Starts!
The ball is in Jasprit Bumrah's hand, Mitch Marsh and David Warner for Australia at the crease opening the Australian innings. Mitch Marsh starts with a lovely shot off his first ball.
AUS - 5/0 (1)
AUS Playing XI:
D Warner, M Marsh, S Smith, M Labuschagne, A Carey(wk), G Maxwell, C Green, P Cummins(c), M Starc, T Sangha, J Hazlewood.
IND Playing XI:
R Sharma(c), V Kohli, S Iyer, KL Rahul(WK), S Yadav, R Jadeja, W Sundar, K Yadav, M Siraj, P Krishna, J Bumrah.
1:00 pm: Toss Update
Australia have won the toss and have elected to bat first.
Ishan Kishan was unavailable for selection for the 3rd ODI due to an illness.
Additionally, four local state players - Dharmendra Jadeja, Prerak Mankad, Vishwaraj Jadeja and Harvik Desai will support the team for drinks and fielding throughout the match.
Preview
With the return of full-time captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the final match of the series, India will eye to claim a clean sweep on Australia. India will be without Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya, who have all returned home, while Axar Patel is out injured and Shubman Gill has been rested. This means Rohit in reality has just 12 players to pick from.
India is already 2-0 up in the series. In the 1st ODI played at Mohali, India won by 5 wickets and in the second ODI, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer's Centuries led India to a 99-run victory. Now focus will be on a clean sweep.
India is trying to give match time to all the players ahead of the World Cup. With just 12 days remaining for the World Cup, the Indian team is managing its workload and focusing on giving enough rest to the players between the matches. Australia, on the other hand, will be trying to come out with a consolidated win after losing 5 consecutive ODIs.
