India vs Australia, 1st ODI: Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni guides India to a six-wicket win
Thanks to the bowlers and the partnership of MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav, India began the One Day International series against Australia with a six-wicket win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday. It was a good bowling display by the Indian bowlers to restrict Australia for a modest total and then batsmen did the job.
Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and decided to bat first. Jasprit Bumrah got the Indian team off to a great start by dismissing Aaron Finch for 0. Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis found it hard to time the ball on a tough wicket. Both took Australia to 38 for 1 at the end of 10 overs.
Usman Khawaja reached his fifty off 74 balls. Kedar Jadhav got the important wicket of Stoinis for 37 as the duo added 87 runs for the second wicket. The Indian bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals. Glenn Maxwell scored 40 off 51 balls. Nathan Coulter-Nile and Alex Carey put on 62 runs for the 7th wicket to take Australia to 236 for 7 in 50 overs.
Chasing the modest target of 237 runs to win, Shikhar Dhawan could not open his account. Indian captain Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma steadied the Indian innings with some brilliant stroke play. At the end of 10 overs, India were 42 for 1. Adam Zampa struck by dismissing the Indian captain Virat Kohli for 44 runs. Kohli and Rohit Sharma added 76 runs for the second wicket.
India were reduced to 99 for 4 in the 24th over as Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 37 while Rayudu scored just 13 runs. Kedar Jadhav played some lovely strokes to put pressure back on the Australian bowlers while MS Dhoni took his time. Jadhav reached his fifty off 67 balls and then took on the Australian bowlers.
MS Dhoni also reached his fifty off 68 balls. Both Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni added an unbeaten 141 runs for the 5th wicket to help India win the match by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare.
Brief scores: India 240 for 4 in 48.2 overs (Kedar Jadhav 81*, MS Dhoni 59*, Virat Kohli 44, Adam Zampa 2/49, Coulter Nile 2/46) beat Australia 236 for 7 in 50 overs (Usman Khawaja 50, Glenn Maxwell 40, Alex Carey 36*, Mohammed Shami 2/44, Kuldeep Yadav 2/46, Bumrah 2/60) by 6 wickets.