"Virat's performance today has made him world's second-highest run getter in ODIs": Batter's childhood coach

Tinsukia (Assam) [India], October 25 (ANI): After India's win over Australia in the third ODI, which witnessed standout contributions from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Virat's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma hailed both batters for their partnership, saying that they have shown that they are legends of Indian cricket.

Rohit and Virat silenced any doubts about their international cricket future with a power-packed 168-run unbeaten partnership, which saw Rohit score his 50th international ton in full flow and Virat overcome the rustiness of two successive ducks with a stellar 74-run knock.

"Both of them played a wonderful innings and I would like to congratulate Rohit Sharma also for his brilliant century. It was an outstanding partnership, and both stalwarts showed yet again that they are great players and are legends of Indian cricket," Rajkumar told ANI.

Rajkumar also said that it is not fair to arrive at a conclusion about Virat's form after just two poor innings.

"With just two innings, you cannot say that Virat Kohli is out of form. His performance today has made him the world's second-highest run getter in ODIs. This shows his contribution to Indian cricket. He has scored 51 centuries. People love him a lot and want him to play as much as possible," he added.

Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. A 61-run stand between skipper Mitchell Marsh (41 in 50 balls, with five fours and a six) and Travis Head (29 in 25 balls, with six fours) started off things for Australia.

Matt Short contributed a knock of 30 in 41 balls, with two fours, and a 59-run stand between Matt Renshaw (56 in 58 balls, with two fours) and Alex Carey (24 in 37 balls, with a four) took the Aussies to 183/3. But from there, Aussies collapsed to 236 all out in 46.4 overs, with Harshit Rana (4/39 in 8.4 overs), Washington Sundar (2/44) being the pick of the bowlers and Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav getting one each.

In the 237 run-chase, India was off to a solid start with a 69-run opening stand between Shubman Gill (24 in 26 balls, with two fours and a six). From there, happened something fans had waited for all series, as Rohit Sharma (121* in 125 balls, with 13 fours and three sixes) and Virat Kohli (74* in 81 balls, with seven fours) put on an unbeaten 168-run partnership and achieved several milestones, winning the match with nine wickets still in hand.

Rohit won the 'Player of the Match' award and the 'Player of the Series' award as well for top-scoring in the series with 202 runs, including a century and a fifty each. (ANI)

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