Team India began the One-day International series against Australia with a 5-wicket win played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 17 March 2023.
Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to field first. It was not an ideal start for the Indian team as they picked only 1 wicket in the first 10 overs. The Indian bowlers then picked wickets at regular intervals to bowl Australia for a modest total.
The Indian middle order rose to the occasion on a tough batting pitch that assisted the pace bowlers but held on to win the match easily taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
Here we look at the 3 Takeaways for Team India in the first ODI against Australia:
- Brilliant bowling and fielding by the Indian team
Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to field first. It was an ideal start for the Indian team as Mohammed Siraj got the initial breakthrough dismissing dangerous Travis Head. Hardik Pandya broke 72 runs partnership for the 2nd wicket dismissing Smith.
The Indian bowling looked sharp picking up wickets at regular intervals. Mohammed Shami was the star of the show with a superb 2nd spell. He got rid of Josh Inglis, Cameron Green with a beauty and then Marcus Stoinis to leave Australia in big trouble. Mohammed Siraj showed his class picking up 2 more wickets. Shami and Siraj took 3 wickets each, Jadeja 2, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav 1 each.
Indian fielding looked very sharp with a stunning catch by Ravindra Jadeja to dismiss Labuschagne. Surya Kumar Yadav also showed commitment saving 2 runs. KL Rahul’s wicketkeeping made some lovely saves. Shubman Gill dropped 2 catches but apart from that, India put pressure on the Australian batters with discipline lines and lengths.
- Middle Order performance
Chasing down 189 runs to win, the Indian team struggled against brilliant bowling by the Australian pacers especially by Mitchell Starc getting rid of Virat Kohli and Surya Kumar Yadav off successive deliveries to leave India in trouble at 16 for 3.
KL Rahul showed his class with a boundary off his first delivery. After surviving a few anxious moments, Shubman Gill fell as Labuschagne took a good catch. Hardik Pandya came to the crease and looked in decent touch timing the ball brilliantly.
Hardik Pandya fell to the short ball tactics providing simple catch to Cameron Green. KL Rahul and Hardik added 44 runs for the 5th wicket. KL Rahul showed his class by playing according to the merit of the ball along with Ravindra Jadeja.
KL Rahul completed his half-century off 73 balls and kept India steady. Both KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja kept the scoreboard ticking putting on unbeaten 108 runs for the 6th wicket to help Team India win the match by 5 wickets with 61 balls remaining. Ravindra Jadeja was named player of the match for his unbeaten 45 and 2 for 46 in 9 overs.
- Hardik Pandya’s brilliant captaincy
Hardik Pandya made impressive moves during the first ODI match with good bowling changes and field settings. Mitchell Marsh looked good playing attacking shots putting pressure on the Indian bowlers.
After the fall of Mitchell Marsh’s wicket, Hardik Pandya bought in Kuldeep Yadav for one more over. He bought in Mohammed Shami for his 2nd spell as Australia looked for a big total.
Instead of prolonging the innings, he introduced the pace bowlers and finished the Australian innings off for just 188.
He was captaining Team India for the first time in One-day internationals and made innovative moves to put pressure on Australian batting.
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