India beats Australia by 5 wickets in the first ODI of the 3 match one day series. Brilliant partnership between Rahul and Jadeja helps India in chasing the target successfully, which seemed difficult at one point . But the brilliant batting performances by Kl Rahul and Jadeja and take the lead by 1-0.
Summary
India after winning the toss opted to bowl , and invited Australia to bat first and put the total on the board. Hardik Pandya captained in the first ODI , as Rohit Sharma was unavailable for the first ODI. Australia batting first, lost the wicket in the powerplay in the form of Travis Head. No surprise to hear that, Mohd. Siraj once again strike in the powerplay. After this Australia were 59 for 1 at the end of powerplay. Mitchell Marsh who opened in place of David Warner gave the perfect start. Hardik Pandya gave the breakthrough by sending Steve Smith back to pavilion.
Mitchell Marsh kept scoring and attacking from one end. His fiery knock of 81 off 64 balls came to end , when Jadeja was handed the ball. He sent back Mitchell Marsh.
Australia at one point were looking strong , but then Mohd. Shami kept on picking up wickets in his second spell.
Australia were bowled out for just 188. Credit to the bowlers of India , because at one point everyone thought that 300-350 would be the total score.
In the chase of 188, which looked easy before the start was not actually easy. Ishan Kishan was sent back early and then amazing spell by Mitchell Starc sent back Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Gill back to the pavilion. India were put under pressure as they were 39/4 , but then partnership between captain Hardik Pandya and Kl Rahul released some pressure.
Again there came twist in the match , as Stoinis dismissed Pandya.
But the century partnership between Jadeja and Rahul saved the game made the successfull run chase. Kl Rahul scored 75 runs, while Jadeja Scored 45 runs.
Brief Scores:
Australia 188 in 35.4 overs (Mitchell Marsh 81; Mohammed Shami 3/17, Mohammed Siraj 3/29) lost to India 191/5 in 39.5 overs (KL Rahul 75*, Ravindra Jadeja 45*; Mitchell Starc 3/49, Marcus Stoinis 2/27) by 5 wickets.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Player of the match was awarded to Ravindra Jadeja for his all round performance.
What Captains said after the match?
Hardik Pandya | India captain: We were under pressure both the times . We kept our composure and found ways to come out of those situations. Once we got the momentum towards us, we were quite on top of the game. I am really proud of the way we caught today. The number of chances we created … they had to be taken. Outstanding catches by Jaddu and Shubman as well. Talking about Jaddu, he did what he’s capable of. Coming after a break in ODI cricket, the way he finished as well, we needed a partnership with KL and he did the job for us. That was fantastic. It was hot, I was enjoying my bowling. I was enjoying my batting as well. The way KL and Jaddu finished it off and the way they batted, it gave us the confidence. It was very relaxing watching them bat. Overall, a very good victory and very proud of them.
Steve Smith | Australia captain: We weren’t expecting this at the Wankhede, usually pretty good scores. India bowled really well. We probably left a few out there. If we had got over 250, it would have been interesting the way the ball was swinging and seaming. KL and Jaddu’s partnership was really good when they were under pressure. We started pretty well. Mitch played really nicely and took the game on early and got a few away and kept going. We lost too many wickets through the middle. We weren’t able to get a partnership and get to a reasonable total. We were always one partnership away from them beating us. Jadeja and Rahul showed how to do it. Maybe 260-270 (was a par score). I don’t think it was a great wicket, it was offering a fair bit for the seamers at times. The ball swung pretty much for 30-odd overs for both teams. We just needed to score more runs. Credit to India.