Former Indian cricket team spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has revealed that he offered the current team management to help with the spin department, but his offer was not accepted. Following India’s loss in the third ODI encounter, a Twitter user wrote on the social media platform that Kuldeep Yadav did not bowl according to the field and compared him to Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa. The user also tagged the ex-India spinner for his expert comment but his reply on the post stunned everyone.
“I offered my services to Rahul Dravid, and he said that I was too senior to him to be working under him-with the spinners,” said Sivaramakrishnan in response to the user’s query.
I offered my services to Rahul Dravid and he said that I was too senior to him ,to be working under him-with the spinners .
— Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (@LaxmanSivarama1) March 22, 2023
Australian spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar turned the match to hand India their first one-day international series defeat at home since 2019 in a thrilling third and final match in Chennai.
Left-arm spinner Agar removed in-form Virat Kohli (54) and the world’s top-rated Twenty20 batter Suryakumar Yadav for his third consecutive golden duck with the first two balls of the 36th over to leave the hosts reeling at 185-6 with a target of 270 to win.
The visitors won the match by 21 runs after bowling out the hosts for 248 in the last over.
The 2-1 win in the series was also important practice on South Asian pitches for Australia before the ODI World Cup in India later this year.
Australia’s stand-in-captain Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bat first in the series-decider.
India bowled out Australia for 269 and were cruising in the first 10 overs of their chase before skipper Rohit Sharma fell after a 17-ball 30 with the team at 65-1.
Sharma’s in-form opening partner Shubman Gill fell after a steady 49-ball 37 to leg-spinner Zampa.
India’s star batters Kohli and KL Rahul struck a busy 69-run partnership before Rahul fell to Zampa for 32.
The hosts’ otherwise reliable lower-middle order offered little resistance. All-rounders Hardik Pandya (40) and Ravindra Jadeja (18) also fell to Zampa, who finished with 4-45 in his 10-over spell.
Zampa was named player of the match but said his spin-partner Agar, who finished with 2-41, actually “changed the game”.
“I probably don’t think I deserve this one tonight to be honest,” Zampa said after the game.
“Kudos to the guys who bowled before me as well…. We always have a lot of trust in each other, trust in our process and trust in our game plan. and we stick to it,” he added.
Australian pacers Sean Abbott and Marcus Stoinis took one wicket each.
(With AFP inputs)
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