Canberra, December 2 (Reuters) – India all-rounder Hardik Pandya scored his highest one-day international score of 92 to help his team post a total of 302 for five against Australia in the dead rubber third match of the series at the Manuka Oval on Wednesday.
Pandya’s unbeaten knock in 76 deliveries featured seven fours and one six and he added 150 in an entertaining unbroken stand for the sixth-wicket with Ravindra Jadeja to provide the touring side hopes of a win in the series.
Jadeja smashed five fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 66 off 50 deliveries as the duo added 76 from the last five overs of the match to give India’s scoring rate a late boost.
Hosts Australia have already bagged the series with two victories in as many matches in Sydney and both sides made multiple changes to their team for the final one-dayer.
India won the toss for the first time in the series and opted to bat, having failed to chase Australia’s score in the previous two matches.
The hosts bowlers, however, kept the batsmen under check and reduced them to 152 for five in the 32nd over when India captain Virat Kohli was out for 63 to fast bowler Josh Hazlewood for the third time in the series.
During his knock, Kohli became the fastest batsmen to reach 12,000 runs in the 50-over format, reaching the milestone in his 242nd innings.
The 32-year-old broke the record of India batting great and all-time leading run-scorer Sachin Tendulkar, who reached the milestone in 300 innings.
