‘Rahul showed tremendous maturity, Hardik back to his all-round best’ – Zaheer Khan reflects on India’s positives after Australia ODI series defeat

The ODI series between India and Australia finally came to an end as the visitors registered an emphatic victory against India. The Men in Yellow defeated the hosts after winning the last two matches. India missed the services of Rohit Sharma in the first ODI and Hardik Pandya led India in his absence clinching the win in the first match.

Following that, Steve Smith’s Australia made a resilient comeback in the remaining two matches as they defeated India at home.  Recently, former India pacer Zaheer Khan came forward to give his take on the ODI series between both teams.

“The turning point for me in the final match was the wicket of KL Rahul, who was dismissed just when he looked ominous and had put together 69 for the third wicket with Virat Kohli. He was one of many who fell prey, going for the big hit when both the nature of the wicket and the situation of the match demanded a little caution and old-fashioned play,” Zaheer wrote in his LinkedIn post.

“India also probably erred in making too many changes to their batting order in a high-pressure decider – I won’t make too much of Surya’s three-match streak of golden ducks, though. It is the same 360-degree Surya who has conquered the world of T20 cricket recently,” he added.

We lost the series, but there were still some big positives: Zaheer

After reflecting on what India could have done better in the series decider and talking about Yadav’s consecutive golden ducks, Zaheer also touched upon the various positives of the series as well.

“Yes, we lost the series, but there were still some big positives: Rahul displayed tremendous maturity when he took India home from a precarious 16 for 3 in the series opener in Mumbai. Hardik’s return to top form as an all-rounder since his return from injury and the continuing rise of Ravindra Jadeja, the batsman, were the other big positives for India,” Zaheer wrote.