Nathan Coulter-Nile credits MS Dhoni for his 'hell of an innings' in the first ODI

Team India defeated Australia in the first ODI of the five-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. The five-match series is the last international assignment for the Men in Blue before the 2019 ICC World Cup. The Indian team had come into this ODI series after losing the T20I series 2-0 and had a lot to prove in the first one-day match. In the chase of 237 runs to win, India lost their top three wickets for not much on the board, despite Kohli and Rohit putting up a fifty plus run stand after Dhawan was dismissed for a golden duck.

But then Australia struck three quick blows, leaving the onus of chasing down the runs to MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav. The dup did just that, scoring 141 runs for the fifth wicket, with Kedar Jadhav making 81* in 87 balls, while the veteran Dhoni scored 59* runs off 72 deliveries.

NC credits Dhoni for Team India‘s win

Australia pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile was all praises for Dhoni and credited him for playing one hell of an innings. Coulter-Nile credit India for their batting and rued that somethings didn’t go their way. “India are 1-0 up in the series so they’ve got the upper hand, but I think it was a really closely fought game. We played well, they played better in the end, but the teams were close and the next four games should be even tighter,” NCN was quoted as saying after the game.

Australia batted first and despite losing wickets at regular intervals, managed to put up a fighting total of 236/7. Usman Khawaja scored 50, while Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Coulter-Nile added important cameos.

The Australian bowlers also did well to keep the pressure on Indian batting, with Adam Zampa bowling at his best. Coulter-Nile had some good words for Zampa and mentioned that he had picked a couple of big wickets for the team. Praise was also reserved for Marcus Stoinis, who weathered the Indian bowling at the start and Coulter-Nile said that he batted beautifully and was unlucky to get out in the way he did.

He also praised the Indian bowling attack, especially Mohammed Shami and said, “I think Shami is a fantastic bowler. I think he’s quality everywhere he bowls. It was really hard to get his Yorkers away towards the end of the innings. We know he’s a quality bowler just like the rest of the Indian bowlers.”

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