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'Smith's career-ending series': Twitter roasts Australia captain after Hardik stages India's epic comeback in 3rd ODI
Capping off a forgetful tour of India on Wednesday, Australia's Steve Smith was dismissed for a duck in the 3rd ODI by an on-song Hardik Pandya.
Twitterati showed no mercy on superstar Steve Smith after the Australian skipper showcased another batting failure in the third and final One Day International (ODI) of the bilateral series between India and Australia on Wednesday. Smith, who took over the captaincy reins from star pacer Pat Cummins for the entire ODI series against Rohit Sharma’s men, failed to fire for the visitors in all international matches of the India tour. Smith struggled to get going in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 between the two finalists of the World Test Championship.
Averaging 29, batting icon Smith scored 145 runs in the four-match Test series. Appointed as the stand-in skipper of the Australian side, Smith scored 22 off 30 balls in the 1st ODI against India. Capping off a forgetful tour of India on Wednesday, Smith was dismissed for a duck in the 3rd ODI by an on-song Hardik Pandya. The Australian batter was mercilessly trolled for his flop show against India across all formats.
"Abysmal tour for Steve Smith as a batsman," a Twitter user said. "Steve Smith’s career-ending series," another fan added. Interestingly, Smith was the only Australian batter, who failed to reach double figures with the bat in the 3rd ODI against India. Smith's 3-ball duck was also the first time that the Aussie batter failed to open his account in an ODI since 2017. Though Smith registered his 6th duck in ODI cricket, the visitors still managed to post a competitive total in the 50-over contest.
Openers Travis Head (33) and Mitchell Marsh (47) gave Australia a brilliant start in the series decider before pacer Pandya made his presence felt at Chennai. Staging India's epic comeback in the series decider, Pandya removed Head, Marsh and Aussie skipper Smith in his match-changing spell for the hosts. Pandya bagged three crucial wickets and the speedster leaked 44 runs in his 8 overs.
Joining forces with Pandya in the series decider, spinner Kuldeep got the better of David Warner (23), Marnus Labuschagne (28) and Alex Carey (38) as Australia folded for 269 in 49 overs. Spin wizard Kuldeep picked up three wickets and conceded 56 runs in 10 overs.
