(Cricket news) In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya was leading India. He won the toss and elected to bat first mainly because of the dew factor. India’s line-up was pretty much as expected as Shardul Thakur got the nod ahead of Umran Malik while Kuldeep Yadav was preferred ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal. KL Rahul kept wickets despite the fact that Ishan Kishan was in the side which means that Ishan Kishan will make way for Rohit Sharma in the next ODI. As for Australia, Alex Carey was unavailable due to illness while David Warner was also not fully fit. Josh Inglis donned the gloves while Mitchell Marsh opened the batting alongside Travis Head.

Mohammed Siraj got India off to a very good start as he dismissed Travis Head in the 2nd over. After that Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith steadied the ship. Marsh scored 81 off just 65 balls hitting 10 fours and 5 sixes. Hardik Pandya brought himself on and he was getting the ball to swing both ways. The Indian skipper dismissed his counterpart to break the partnership. Ravindra Jadeja came into the attack and dismissed Marsh while Kuldeep Yadav got rid of Marnus Labuschagne. 

When Mohammed Shami was brought back on he started getting a lot of movement off the surface and in the air as well. Shami dismissed Josh Inglis, Cameron Green and Marcus Stoinis in incredible fashion with some exemplary seam bowling. Jadeja got rid of Glenn Maxwell cheaply while Siraj cleaned up the tail by dismissing Sean Abbott and Adam Zampa. Australia were bowled out for 188 thanks to a really good comeback by the Indian bowlers. During Marsh and Smith’s partnership it looked like a high scoring wicket but later things changed.

India’s chase looked like it would be a simple one but Mitchell Starc had different ideas. It was Marcus Stoinis who started proceedings by dismissing Ishan Kishan cheaply. Starc was making the ball talk from over the wicket as he dismissed Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav. India were struggling on 39/4. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya put together a crucial 44 run partnership. Stoinis came back into the attack and dismissed Pandya with a perfect bouncer. Ravindra Jadeja came in to bat and that changed the things as a left and right hand combination made it difficult for the Aussies.

KL Rahul after a difficult couple of months played a fantastic match winning knock. He scored an unbeaten 75 off 91 balls hitting 7 boundaries and a maximum. The knock once again shows why in ODIs the middle order is Rahul’s best spot. While his position in the Test and T20I team is being questioned, in ODIs he is India’s best option to bat at number 5 and keep wickets. Jadeja provided good support as he scored 45 off 69 balls to go with his 2 wickets with the ball. He was named the player of the match in his first ODI game after 8 months. 

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