Twitter Reactions: Shami's five-fer and Gill-Ruturaj's massive stand help India take 1-0 lead over Australia
India beat Australia by five wickets to win the first ODI and take 1-0 lead in the series.
India beat Australia by five wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series on Friday, September 22 at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. The Men in Blue comfortably managed to chase down the target of 277 in 48.4 overs with captain KL Rahul guiding the team home with a sublime half-century (58* off 63).
Earlier in the day, Rahul won the toss and elected to field first, the decision was proven right by Mohammed Shami who dismissed the in-form Mitchell Marsh (4 off 4) in the very first over to get India off to a rollicking start. However, David Warner (52 off 53) and Steve Smith (41 off 60) did the repairing job after the early blow with their 94-run stand off 106 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja got rid of Warner in the 19th over to bring their partnership to an end while Shami dismantled Smith’s stumps in the 22nd over to send him back to the pavilion. Contributions from Marnus Labuschagne (39 off 49) and Cameron Green (31 off 52) kept Australia’s scoreboard moving forward as they crossed the 150-run mark.
Josh Inglis (45 off 45) and Marcus Stoinis (29 off 21) further took Australia past 240 with their 62-run stand. However, Mohammed Shami returned in his third spell and registered his best bowling figures in ODIs to bundle out Australia for 276. Shami finished with figures of 5/51 in ten overs, claiming the second five-wicket haul of his career.
In reply, India got their innings off to an incredible start as openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (71 off 77) and Shubman Gill (74 off 63) added 142 runs for the first wicket. Ruturaj brought up his maiden ODI fifty as he smashed ten fours in his innings. However, after their massive partnership, India were rocked by four quick wickets of Gaikwad, Gill, Shreyas Iyer (3 off 8) and Ishan Kishan (18 off 26) which left them at 185/4.
India rise to number one rank in ODIs
Captain KL Rahul (58* off 63) and Suryakumar Yadav (50 off 49) added 80 runs for the fifth wicket to take India on the verge of victory. Suryakumar lost his wicket against Sean Abbott with India just 12 runs away from a win. However, Rahul took the team home with his sublime half-century as India chased down the target with eight balls to spare. Adam Zampa was the pick of the bowlers for Australia with figures of 2/57 in ten overs.
With this win, India went 1-0 up in the series and also climbed to the top spot in the Men’s ODI rankings. Notably, India became the number-one team in all three formats of the game.
Meanwhile, X was abuzz with reactions on India’s win. Here are some of the posts:
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