Sydney: Australia won by 34 runs in the first ODI at Sydney on Saturday. India’s thumping win at Border-Gavaskar Trophy was forgotten after crushing defeat today.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat first. They scored 288 at the loss of 5 wickets. Peter Handscomb scored the highest for 73 for the hosts.
For India, Mohammad Shami took highest of 3 wickets. Khaleel Ahmed took 2 wickets and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 1 wicket each.
Rohit Sharma’s magnificent knock of 133 in 129 balls was gone for waste with dismal performance of Indian batsmen. MS Dhoni scored a 51. Apart from Dinesh Karthik(12) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar(29) no other batsman was able to reach a double figure.
The guests managed to score 254 at the loss of 9 wickets by the end of 50 overs.
Post Match Presentation
Australia’s Jhye Richardson was awarded Man of the Match after he took 4 wickets with economy of 2.60.
At post-match presentation, Indian captain Virat Kohli did not seem very pleased with his team’s dismal performance. He said, “These things happen in ODI cricket but you don’t stop playing shots. I think we have to take it as a day on which Australia played better than us. We are not stressed about the results; we need to figure out the things we need to improve as a side. Looking forward to the World Cup, I think every side has to have the best combination. The defeats like these make you aware of the things you need to improve on. We just want to play good cricket and correct our mistake in the next match.”
Australian captain Aaron Finch was very pleased with his team’s performance. He said that Rohit-MS partnership had begun to worry them. But timely fall of wickets helped them win the match He credited his bowlers with it. He said, “I thought we got a par total, the partnership between Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh was very good in the middle overs and Peter played a gem. In the middle period we played really well. We didn’t score a lot of runs in the middle overs but we saved the wickets for the final overs. We have powers hitters like Maxi and Stoinis at number 6 and 7. Jhye and Jason are full of confidence, they have great skill sets and both have a good future ahead of them. We can always improve; our execution with the ball was at times off. It will be a good series.”
Second ODI will be played at Adelaide Oval on January 15.
Also Read:India Vs Australia, 1st ODI: Aaron Finch Opts To Bat First In Sydney
Ms Kalinga