- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 25 Oct 2025 06:50 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs AUS 3rd ODI: Shubman Gill, on Saturday, registered his first win as India ODI skipper after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played brilliantly and helped the team win the match by nine wickets, and Gill called it a near-perfect game. Rohit and Virat had built a 168-run partnership for the second wicket in Sydney.
While chasing a gettable target of 237 runs, openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave the team a flying start and kept the scoreboard ticking. Gill, who had struggled in the first two matches, was about to score big. But after a power play, Josh Hazlewood dismissed Gill as Alex Carey took the catch and Gill scored 24 runs off 26 balls. Virat Kohli, who was dismissed twice on ducks, had hit the first ball for a run and was seen celebrating with a fist bump. Virat and Rohit then played brilliant strokes and rattled Australia's bowling line-up. Adam Zampa, who had taken a four-fer in the previous game, had to face Rohit's wrath.
Rohit carefully brought up his half-century off 63 balls and then smashed his 33rd ODI ton off 42 balls. Virat then scored his 75th ODI fifty. The fate of the match was decided at that moment itself, and Virat had scored the winning runs with 11 overs remaining. Both Rohit and Virat stayed unbeaten on 121 off 125 balls and 74 off 81 balls as the hosts had won the series.
“We had a near-perfect game. The chase was pleasing to see. Rohit and Kohli have done it for so many years, and it was a delight to watch. It was a special win on a special ground," Gill was heard as saying in the post-match presentation.
He also praised Harshit Rana, who took a four-wicket haul along with the spinners to restrict the hosts in the middle overs.
“We pulled things back in the middle overs. Our spinners contained (batters) in the middle, and pacers took key wickets. Harshit bowled fast in the middle overs. We need that quality," he said.
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‘India Were Too Good’
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh also lauded Rohit and Kohli for their brilliant performances, but also expressed disappointment with his team's performance as they once were 195/3 with 15 overs remaining.
“We’ve seen Rohit and Virat do that over 10 years against lots of teams. We needed one more stand in the back-end of our first innings. We had a great platform at 195 for three. But we couldn’t cash in. India were too good with the bat. I think the experienced guys who came into the side – (Matthew) Renshaw, (Nathan) Ellis, etc, did well, we can be proud of winning the series after two games," he said.