Australia vs India 2018-19: 1st ODI - Player Ratings
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. The bad form of Aaron Finch continued as he was undone by an inswinger from Bhuvneshwar. It was the experience of Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja who put up a solid partnership. The half-centuries from Marsh, Khawaja, and Peter Handscomb helped Australia to post a good total on the board. India had a task at hand to chase the record total at Sydney.
In reply, India had a disastrous start as they were reduced to 4/3 within the first five overs. It all started with Dhawan getting trapped LBW off Jason Behrendorff. Then it was Jhye Richardson who got the better of Kohli and Ambati Rayudu. It all looked over for Team India until Rohit Sharma and Dhoni came to the rescue.
Also Read: India vs Australia, 1st ODI: Highlights from SCG match - Rohit Sharma's brilliance and more
Both stitched a huge partnership of 137 runs to take India closer towards the total. But, unlucky dismissal of MS Dhoni cost India dearly in their chase. Rohit tried his best to win it for India but ended up losing by just 34 runs. Looking at India's situation in the powerplay, and going on to lose by just 34 runs, is a big plus for Team India. Australia now leads the three-match series 1-0.
Here are the player ratings for the first ODI. All players have been rated on a scale of ten.
Australia
Aaron Finch - 3
Unfortunately, Finch is still struggling to get back to form. Opening the innings for Australia, Finch couldn't get going as he was out for six runs. But, some points for his captaincy upfront with the good field placements which put India to the back foot.
Alex Carey - 5
The explosive opening batsman Carey was looking in good touch till the introduction of Kuldeep Yadav. He played a fluent 24 runs before edging one to slip fielder.
Usman Khawaja - 6.5
A lot was expected from Khawaja after a poor show in the Test series. He turned up well for the Aussies. He played a crucial knock of 59 to build the platform for rest of the batsmen. Khawaja will be the key as the series progresses.
Shaun Marsh - 6.5
Marsh is another experienced campaigner in the current Aussie line up who had a responsibility to contribute highly to the team. He scored a fighting half-century and joined hands with Khawaja to boost Australia's chances to post a good total on the board.
Peter Handscomb - 8
Handscomb was the standout batsman for Australia. He rightly capitalized on the platform built by Marsh-Khawaja towards the end of the innings to propel Australia to a very good total of 288 on the board. He played Indian spinners really well to build his innings of 73 runs.
Marcus Stoinis - 7
Stoinis has ensured the middle order of Team Australia is in good shape when it comes to One day cricket. His all-round abilities have helped Australia immensely in the recent past. He played sensibly in the end to score 47 crucial runs and bowled some good overs in the middle.
Glenn Maxwell - 4
Maxwell didn't get much game time to show his worth today. He came to bat towards the very end of Australian innings to score an unbeaten 11 and bowled some overs to compensate for Peter Siddle for was very costly with the ball.
Jhye Richardson - 9
The youngster Richardson was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies as he impressed one and all with his bowling skills. He is one guy who has serious talent and Australia can look forward to in the race to World cup 2019. He bowled to the plans and reaped rewards with the wickets of Kohli, Rayudu, Karthik. The standout performer for Australia in the match.
Jason Behrendorff - 8
Jason was very effective up front with his inswingers and outswingers to both the Indian openers and made life difficult for the batters. He bowled tight lines and swung the ball beautifully and ended up with impressive figures of 10-2-39-2 to support Richardson well with the ball.
Peter Siddle - 4
Returning to play in the one day cricket for Australia after 8 years, Siddle was very excited about the opportunity. But, the lines and lengths he bowled were too defensive and he was ineffective in the pace attack. He ended up with figures of 8-0-48-1
Nathan Lyon - 3
Safe to say Lyon is best suited to Test cricket alone and his wicket-taking options get reduced when it comes to limited overs. Today was an exhibition of just that. He went wicketless in his spell and gave away 50 runs. But, he did provide some control in the middle overs.