cricket

Updated: Jan 20, 2019 09:57 IST

India won their first-ever bilateral ODI series in Australia after winning the third ODI by seven wickets in Melbourne on Friday. However, the home side could have easily been on the winning side if they held onto their chances and especially if Glenn Maxwell managed to grab a catch at backward point off MS Dhoni’s bat on the first ball of his innings. Dhoni, who was dropped on 0 and 74 (by Aaron Finch), went on to score a match-winning unbeaten innings of 87 runs.

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After Dhoni came to the crease, he hit a cut shot off Marcus Stoinis to Maxwell, who put down the catch. Australia coach Justin Langer said that drop catches cost his side the match. He also said that Dhoni gave his young side a batting tutorial on how to go about in such a run chase.

Australia missed some key chances in the series decider, but there were still plenty of positives for coach Justin Langer #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/dYSaoOHU4a — cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 18, 2019

“You drop MS Dhoni a couple of times and you don’t win. You don’t give great players chances. We did that tonight. We get down the 49th over and MS is there again. It was a great lesson for our squad. We talk about match winners, getting the job done - he showed us again. It is a great tutorial for our batters,” he added.

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“If MS Dhoni can come out and run between wickets like that after keeping wickets for 50 overs, that is the level the whole world should be aspiring to. I would be amazed if they (Australian players) don’t learn from playing against those guys. For a young squad, there is no better lesson and learning to rub shoulders with great players. I’m glad we have had the experience,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)