India v Australia 2017, 1st ODI: Who Said What

The opening encounter of the India vs Australia ODI series was expected to be a high scoring game but the start the hosts had didn’t look promising at all. With the scoreboard reflecting 11/3, they were in deep trouble. The Australian pace battery was bowling just the right line, length and at express pace. Both Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pat Cummins were making life difficult for the batters. NCN, in no time scalped three wickets.

Ajinkya Rahane (5), Virat Kohli (0) and Manish Pandey (0) were dismissed without an addition to the scoreboard. Soon it looked like we were in Sri Lanka once again as MS Dhoni was in the middle and the team was in deep trouble. Once Rohit Sharma gave away his wicket for 28 on the team score of 64 and Kedar Jadhav also threw the start after scoring 40 from 54 balls they were 5 down for just 87.

It was up to Dhoni and Hardik Pandya to take them to a respectable total now. The duo initially rotated the strike to dilute the pressure. Pandya, once he had his eye in took on the leg-spinner Adam Zampa and hit him for three consecutive sixes. That over changed the momentum of the game and India managed 281/7 in 50 overs. Pandya was dismissed for 83 while Dhoni scored 79 to be dismissed in the last over.

When Australia walked out to bat, they were 3 hours late. There was rain in the middle of the innings and that pushed the start off schedule; eventually, it was a game reduced to 21 overs and the Aussies needed 164 runs. David Warner and Hilton Cartwright faced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah with the ball moving around.

Bumrah sent Cartwright’s stumps for a cartwheel and that set the tone for the rest of the game. Except Glenn Maxwell no other Australian batsman got going as after the initial assault from the pacers, the two wrist spinners choked them in the game. They shared 5 wickets amongst them and were economical at the same time. Though Maxwell hit Kuldeep Yadav for a hat-trick of sixes it was still India’s game, as he picked 2/44 in his 4 while Yuzvendra Chahal had figures of 3/30 in 5.

Australia eventually lost the game by 26 runs as per the DLS method.

In the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli said:

“We spoke at the toss that we wanted to put on a big score. We lost wickets but MS and Kedar played well. Hardik then, MS then finished it off like he does. Today was an example, Sri Lanka was the example of how good the middle and lower order can be. The bowlers were outstanding as well.

It is a matter of giving players confidence. Hardik believes in himself, and his innings was the game-changer. He possesses all three skills equally and we are lucky to have him. Chahal is very brave and doesn’t say no to any situation. Bhuvi and Bumrah very clinical and our bank bowlers. After the rain, we felt this was our best T20 attack. We can’t have a more perfect combination.”

Man of the Match Hardik Pandya said:

“It was a good day for me. A couple of catches could have helped. I don’t think anything has changed. I am the same Hardik I was a year back. Maybe people’s thinking was changed. To be honest, when Mahi bhai was batting with me, we knew what Zampa was going to bowl. I am glad I am doing with the bat and bowl.”

Steve Smith said:

“Yeah, obviously we got ourselves into a good position,” Steven Smith says. “We had them at 5 for 87 and let things off a bit. MS and Hardik had a great partnership. The new ball was stopping and some skidded on. We lost too many wickets in the middle.

You can’t control the weather. No complaints, we weren’t good enough and we were outplayed by India. I thought Cummins and Coulter-Nile bowled very well in the new ball and hopefully they can back it up in a couple of days time. It was a tough wicket with the new ball, and then we went away from our plans too early.”