India v Australia, 1st ODI: DLS targets and par scores for Australia

The opening game of the exciting series between India and Australia was hit by rain but only after a sensational effort from India’s middle and lower order. After electing to bat first, India were reduced to 11/3 but a brilliant hand from MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya helped the home side finish at 281/7. The clouds over the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai opened after the Indian innings delaying the start of the Aussie chase.

Nathan Coulter-Nile’s brilliant bowling spell at the start created early troubles for the formidable Indian line-up as he sent back Ajinkya Rahane for five runs and bigger blows in the following over by dismissing Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey for ducks. A fifty-run stand for the 4th wicket between Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav seemed to be rebuilding the Indian innings. But both the set batsmen got out at the same time to leave India reeling at 87/5.

MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya put a century stand for the 6th wicket which didn’t just guide India safely towards a decent total but also pulled in some quick runs. Pandya scored 83 in just 66 balls with the help of five sixes out of which he hit three off consecutive balls against Adam Zampa. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave Dhoni excellent support in the last 10 overs as India ended the innings with 281 runs on the board. Dhoni got out in the final over of the Indian innings after a brilliant 79-run knock while Bhuvneshwar scored a 30-ball 32.

The extra one hour available completed at 6:30 PM IST and the rain stopped at the same time; the Australian target was revised to 238 in 37 overs with a 7:25 PM IST start. However, the rain made yet another appearance as the wait for the start of Australian innings continued. There is no reserve day available for the game and Australia will have to chase a 159-run target in 20 overs in the last scenario for the game to be possible.

Targets for Australia based on over reductions:

Par scores for Australian innings: