India vs Australia 1st ODI: 3 Reasons why Australia lost the game

After the T20I series loss at Bengaluru, Team India was given a reality check for complacency if there was any. Australia has always been a very competitive side in ODI series played in India. As a matter of fact, out of 41 bilateral series ODI matches played in India, the Aussies are ahead with 19 victories, compared to India's 17.

India was ready for the challenge. Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. The Indian bowlers restricted Australia to a below par total with good bowling.

In reply, India had a poor start as Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for a duck. Rohit Sharma and captain Virat Kohli steadied the innings for some time, but the Aussies kept bowling tight lines, and poor shot selection cost India few wickets in middle overs. It was MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav who added a massive unbeaten partnership of 141. India pulled off a six-wicket victory at Hyderabad to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Here are the three reasons why Australia lost the match.

#1 Lack of partnerships in the Aussie batting

Australia was high on confidence after the T20 series win but couldn't replicate the same in this match. After choosing to bat first on a good wicket, they disappointed themselves with the effort, and the poor form of Aaron Finch is not helping Australia at all. Although Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis tried to stabilise the innings, they were not successful in giving the team a stable platform.

Poor shot selection led to their downfall, and the rest of the players didn't apply themselves. The lack of partnerships hampered Australia from posting a big total on the board. If Australia want to win matches in the future, they need to work on building partnerships in the middle overs. Today was a classic example of how a team ends up on losing side without healthy partnerships.