Vinay Kumar
Short, who was dropped twice during his innings, led Australia’s chase before Connolly’s maiden half-century and Mitch Owen’s quick-fire 36 guided the team home.
“It’s awesome and rapt to have won the series,” said Australia captain Mitch Marsh, who won the toss and elected to field. “Hazlewood was unbelievable, the whole bowling unit kept trying to pick up wickets and awesome batting. We’ll certainly enjoy the series win.”
The Australian chase began cautiously, with Marsh falling for 11 to Arshdeep Singh and Travis Head departing for 28, caught by Virat Kohli off Harshit Rana.
Short and Matt Renshaw stabilized the innings with a 55-run partnership before spin bowling claimed both Renshaw (30) and Alex Carey (9).
“I think we had just enough runs on the board… it’s never easy to defend those totals when you drop a couple of catches,” said India captain Shubman Gill. “There was a little bit in the wicket initially, but as the ball got older it got better to bat on.”
Earlier, India’s innings was anchored by Rohit Sharma’s 73 and Shreyas Iyer’s 61. Their 118-run partnership proved crucial after early setbacks.
Xavier Bartlett, replacing Nathan Ellis, made an immediate impact by dismissing Gill and Kohli, the latter for his second consecutive duck – a first in his ODI career.
Rohit reached his 59th ODI fifty before falling to Mitchell Starc, caught by Hazlewood in the deep. Josh Hazlewood’s opening spell included 13 dot balls, setting the tone for Australia’s bowling performance.
Iyer’s innings ended at the hands of Adam Zampa, who also claimed KL Rahul (11), Axar Patel (44), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (8).
Short continued his aggressive batting until he was caught on the boundary off Rana while attempting to increase the scoring rate.
Owen’s powerful hitting, including two fours and three sixes, reduced the target to 50 runs from the final ten overs.
Despite some late tension, Australia successfully completed the chase to clinch the series with one match remaining.
