[Watch] Hardik Pandya gifts a plant to Steve Smith as part of BCCI’s environment initiative

Team India skipper Hardik Pandya presented Australia captain Steve Smith with a plant ahead of the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday, March 17.

Hardik is leading the side in the series opener in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who is missing out due to family commitments.

Ahead of the toss, the stand-in Indian skipper gifted Smith a plant as part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) initiative to restore the environment.

Watch the clip here:

🚨 Toss Update - with a special initiative 🚨

@hardikpandya7 - making his ODI captaincy debut - has won the toss & #TeamIndia have elected to bowl against Australia.

Follow the match ▶️ bit.ly/INDvAUS-2023-1…

#INDvAUS | @mastercardindia https://t.co/WdqLVKEuv7

Speaking of the game, India won the toss and decided to bowl first. Hardik Pandya stated that the wicket will remain true in both innings but reckoned that dew might come into the picture under lights in Mumbai.

"We'll bowl first. It is a good track and dew factor will be there. We feel we will do well in the second innings," Hardik said at the toss.

The Men in Blue have gone with four pace options and two spinners. The Aussies, on the other hand, are missing Alex Carey and David Warner.

Meanwhile, Australia have bounced back strongly after losing Travis Head in the second over from Mohammed Siraj. Mitchell Marsh has thrown his bat at everything and unsurprisingly has done the bulk of the scoring. Steve Smith, on the other hand, has adopted a cautious approach, scoring 15 off 21 balls so far.

At the time of writing, the Aussies were 51/1 in 8.2 overs, out of which Marsh alone has scored 25 runs.

India and Australia's Playing XIs

Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, and Adam Zampa.

India: Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Mohammed Shami.