Australia vs India, 3rd ODI: Virat Kohli Praises "Heart And Desire" As India Beat Australia By 13 Runs

India captain Virat Kohli was happy that the team played with "heart and desire" in the third ODI against Australia in Canberra on Wednesday, despite the series already being decided in the host's favour after the second game. India successfully defended their total of 302 and beat Australia by 13 runs at the Manuka Oval. "We played with heart and desire, and that's what you need to do in Australia," the India captain said, while also praising the crucial partnership between Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja.

"It's particularly pleasing that we were under the pump for the first half of our innings, and second half of Australia's, and we fought back both times," Kohli said after the match.

"Playing international cricket for 13-14 years, you should be able to come back like we did," Kohli said.

India won the toss and chose to bat.

After the early wicket of Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli rebuilt for India along with Shubman Gill, who opened the batting in place of Mayank Agarwal.

After Gill fell for 33, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul were quick to follow, with both batsmen failing to make a mark.

Kohli carried on the fight with Hardik Pandya, but departed for 68, leaving India at 152/5. But Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja put on an unbeaten 152-run partnership to take India to 302/5 at the end of 50 overs.

"I would have liked to go on for a bit longer, but we had a great partnership between Hardik and Jadeja. It was exactly what the team needed to get that boost, even though we've lost the series," said Kohli, who also became the fastest to score 12,000 ODI runs.

"One guy making his debut, Shubman coming back, that brought us some freshness. I think the pitch was much better in terms of helping the bowlers, so obviously the confidence levels go up. We were able to put Australia under pressure because of that fact as well," Kohli said, about the change in conditions from Sydney as well as the changes in the Indian team.

While Shubman Gill replaced Mayank Agarwal, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav and T Natarajan all came into the bowling attack, replacing Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Natarajan took two wickets on debut, while Shardul Thakur picked up three scalps. Kuldeep Yadav also picked up a wicket for India.

Topics mentioned in this article

Australia vs India 2020-21 Australia vs India, 3rd ODI India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Virat Kohli Hardik Pandya Ravindra Jadeja Shubman Gill T Natarajan Shardul Thakur Cricket