HYDERABAD, March 2: India defeated Australia by six wickets in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series here on Saturday.
Kedar Jadhav (81) and MS Dhoni (59) hit superb unbeaten half-centuries to take the team home.
Earlier, Indian bowlers controlled the proceedings like seasoned puppeteers pulling strings at will to restrict Australia to a sub-par 236 for 7.
It was a vastly different performance from the bowling unit which maintained discipline for the better part of the 50 overs with Mohammed Shami (2/44 in 10 overs) showing the way.
Kuldeep Yadav (2/46 in 10 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (0/33 in 10 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (1/31) made up for a rare off-day by Jasprit Bumrah (2/60 in 10 overs), that too, by his standards.
Even Usman Khawaja (50) and Glenn Maxwell (40) � the top two contributors for Australia � weren�t exactly comfortable against an Indian attack that bowled as many as 169 dot balls.
This effectively meant Australia couldn�t score 28.1 overs out of the 50 overs.
What the statistics won�t reveal is the contribution of Kedar as the sixth bowler and Jadeja, who stifled the Aussies during the second Powerplay.
This was after Shami bowled a brilliant wicketless first spell which was seen off by Marcus Stoinis (37, 53 balls) and Khawaja (50, 76 balls), who added 87 runs for the second wicket after the early dismissal of Aaron Finch.
It was Khawaja, who was first to break the shackles with a cover drive off Bumrah and a six off Kuldeep, introduced in the last over of the first Powerplay.
SCORECARD
Australia: Usman Khawaja c Vijay Shankar b Kuldeep Yadav 50, Aaron Finch c Dhoni b Bumrah 0, Marcus Stoinis c Kohli b Kedar Jadhav 37, Peter Handscomb st Dhoni b Kuldeep Yadav 19, Glenn Maxwell b Shami 40, Ashton Turner b Shami 21, Alex Carey not out 36, Nathan Coulter-Nile c Kohli b Bumrah 28, Pat Cummins not out 0. Extras: (W-5) 5. Total: (For 7 wickets in 50 overs) 236. Fall of wickets: 0-1, 87-2, 97-3, 133-4, 169-5, 173-6, 235-7. Bowling: Mohammed Shami 10-2-44-2, Jasprit Bumrah 10-0-60-2, Vijay Shankar 3-0-22-0, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-46-2, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-33-0, Kedar Jadhav 7-0-31-1.
India: RG Sharma c Finch b Coulter-Nile 37, S Dhawan c Maxwell b Coulter-Nile 0, V Kohli lbw b Zampa 44, AT Rayudu c Carey b Zampa 13, MS Dhoni not out 59, KM Jadhav not out 81. Extras: (lb 1, w 5) 6. Total: (For four wicket in 48.2 overs) 240. Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-80, 3-95, 4-99. Bowling: JP Behrendorff 10-0-46-0, NM Coulter-Nile 9-2-46-2, PJ Cummins 10-0-46-0, A Zampa 10-0-49-2, MP Stoinis 9.2-0-52-0. � Agencies
