IND v AUS, 1st ODI Review: Dhoni and Pandya gift India a memorable win at Chepauk

MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya’s gritty knocks in the middle order helped India embark the bilateral series with a remarkable win at Chennai. Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile provided a dream start for his side, but his teammates failed to capitalize. Dhoni and Pandya ensured India earned a respectable total and the bowlers were terrific in the rain-affected encounter as the hosts pulled off a 26 run win by D/L method.

Batting first, India never had a more horrendous start to their innings in recent times than this. First, Ajinkya Rahane nicked it straight it to the keeper in Coulter-Nile’s bowling and in the 29-year-old’s next over, he sent Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey for ducks and India was in serious trouble at 11/3.

Nevertheless, Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav steadied the ship for some time. The duo took the team out of the initial trouble and with 64 runs on the board, Rohit Sharma too was back in the hunt. In came MS Dhoni with a resounding ovation, which could’ve been audible for people sitting all the way north in Delhi.

Just the way he always does, he started off slowly and collected singles and doubles to keep the scoreboard ticking. After Kedar Jadhav lost his wicket, Hardik Pandya walked out and changed the whole course of the match. The match was relatively dry and lackluster, but Pandya kind of emulated a similar performance as that of his innings in the Champions Trophy final.

He thundered some huge sixes off Adam Zampa and after a slightly cautious start, he completed a half-century in no time. After his half-century, he upped the ante and the scoring rate went another notch higher. MS Dhoni managed to block the other end and this helped Pandya express himself.

Once again, he fell just short of a hundred and it was his arch nemesis of the day Zampa who sent him back. Pandya scored 83 off 66 balls, which included 5 boundaries and 5 sixes. MS Dhoni was at his vintage, finisher’s best in the final few overs and with Bhuvneshwar Kumar supporting him at the other end, India managed to finish at 281/7 in their 50 overs. Dhoni fell in the final over of the innings, but not before scoring a mind-boggling 79 off 88 balls.

Top order collapse makes Kohli’s job easier

The rain came into play during the half-time break and the target was revised to 164 in 21 overs. It was a huge ask considering the pitch was completely on the slower side and the Aussies don’t excel playing on these tracks. That’s exactly what happened as after Hilton Cartwright was sent back by Jasprit Bumrah, wickets fell like a pack of cards.

Steve Smith, Travis Head and David Warner fell in a short span of time, which reduced Australia to 35/4 in 8 overs. Glenn Maxwell then got going in a way he usually does and did provide a momentary scare. He got a few boundaries and big ones off the spinners and just when his side needed him the most, Chahal deceived the all-rounder and Australia was 5 down.

There was a decent effort coming from the willow of the comeback man James Faulkner, but Australia was never in the game after Maxwell’s wicket. Chahal kept picking wickets and conceded very few runs his overs, which ensured the required-rate crept up over 13 and the game was completely in India’s balance.

The visitors finished at 137 for the loss of nine scalps in their 21 overs and fell 26 runs of the revised target. Kohli and co take a 1-0 lead in this marquee bilateral clash and Steve Smith’s men have extended their losing streak to 11 games outside Australia.

Brief Scores

India: 281/7 in 50 overs (Hardik Pandya 83, MS Dhoni 79; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/44)

Australia: 137/9 in 21 overs (Glenn Maxwell 39; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/30, Hardik Pandya 2/28)

Man of the match: Hardik Pandya