Virat Kohli deliberately collides with Marcus Stoinis during 3rd ODI, Australia star gives unforeseen reaction

Virat Kohli, in a recent interaction with AB de Villiers, said that his equation with the Australian cricketers have changed for the better over the past few years.

There were multiple proofs of that in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy when Kohli indulged in multiple friendly conversations with Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Nathan Lyon during the course of the four-match Test series. The same has continued in the ODI series. During the series-deciding third and final ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Kohli shared a light moment with Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.

It happened during the 21st over of India’s chase. Stoinis, after bowling a dot ball to KL Rahul, was returning back to his mark. Kohli, who was at the non-striker’s end just casually walked towards him and bumped into Stoinis deliberately. The former Indian captain also gave a stern look after the chest bump but it was all done in good spirits.

Stoinis understood Kohli’s intentions. He had a wry smile walking and continuing to walk back to his mark. The videos of the Kohli-Stoinis’ friendly and intentional collision went viral on social media.

Leg spinner Adam Zampa picked 4-45 as Australia beat India by 21 runs to take the series 2-1 and also become the No.1 ranked ODI side. After winning the toss and opting to bat, Australia sped off to a good start with Marsh and Travis Head (33) putting on 68 runs off 65 balls. Indian pacers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj struggled with the new ball, but Hardik Pandya took 3-44 in eight overs to bring India back into the game.

First, Pandya had Head caught at square leg and three balls later Steve Smith was caught behind for duck. Australia was down to 85-3 within 3.4 overs when Pandya also trapped Marsh lbw. Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav picked up 3-56, dismissing both David Warner (23) and Marnus Labuschagne (28) as Australia was reduced to 138-5 in 28.1 overs.

Warner, who came in at number four, added 40 runs with Labuschagne for the fourth wicket before the duo fell in the space of four overs. Carey held the lower order together as he stitched a 58-run partnership with Marcus Stoinis (25). While the latter was out caught off Axar Patel (2-57) in the 37th over, Yadav bowled Carey to make it 203-7 in the 39th over.

Australia’s tail wagged hard enough to add 66 runs for the final three wickets, which proved vital. Sean Abbott scored 26 off 23 balls, with Ashton Agar scoring 17 runs. Mitchell Starc and Zampa added 10 runs each to push Australia to a challenging total.

India’s chase began on a positive note with openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill adding 65 runs off 55 balls. But the duo fell within a space of 19 balls to leave India at 77-2. Sharma was caught off Abbott after scoring 30 off 17 balls, while Zampa picked his first of the night, trapping Gill lbw for 37 off 49 balls.

Kohli spearheaded the chase thereafter scoring a sedate 54 off 72 balls, including two fours and a six. He added 69 runs for the third wicket with Lockesh Rahul (32), before the latter holed out off Zampa, who has his best figures on Indian soil.

India went from 146-3 to 151-4, as Patel (2) was run-out after a mix-up with Kohli, who had reached his 64th ODI half-century off 61 balls. He added 34 runs with Pandya but the turning point came in the 36th over when Kohli was caught at long off.

Suryakumar Yadav’s horrendous run continued as he fell for a first-ball duck for the third time in the series. Agar bowled him off to reduce India to 185-6 and swing the match in Australia’s favor. Zampa returned to dismiss Pandya, who scored 40 off 40 balls, and Ravindra Jadeja (18) as India lost its first bilateral home ODI series since 2019.