India vs Australia, 1st ODI: Rahul and Jadeja's Heroic Partnership Guides Hosts to Five-Wicket Win in Mumbai.
All-Round Performance by Jadeja Earns Him Player of the Match
The first One Day International (ODI) between India and Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday saw an incredible comeback from the hosts as they recovered from 39/4 to win the match by five wickets with 61 balls to spare. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were the heroes of the day as they stitched an unbroken 108-run sixth-wicket stand, with Rahul remaining unbeaten on 75.
At 39/4, it seemed like the hopes of the Indian team were extinguished with Mitchell Starc bowling the spell of a lifetime and putting the Aussies in the driver’s seat. However, Rahul had other plans and brought the hosts back on their feet with two match-saving partnerships in the company of skipper Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, the second one guiding the Men in Blue home.
Jadeja, in particular, had an all-round contribution to the match, taking 2/46 and scoring 45 not out, including an incredible catch to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne. He was rightfully awarded the Player of the Match.
India will have concerns regarding their top order heading into the remaining games at Visakhapatnam and Chennai, but the way their middle order fought back today, along with their all-round bowling performance, will certainly give them a lot of confidence.
Meanwhile, Australia skipper Smith will be ruing his decision of bringing Starc back for his final two overs after the game had well and truly slipped out of their grasp following a 17-run over from Zampa.
Rahul's knock was crucial for India as he weathered the storm when the top order collapsed. Speaking about his innings, he said, "Just wanted to bat the first 15-20 balls and take it from there. Just wanted to play normal cricket shots and not go searching for runs. Couple of boundaries early on settled my nerves. Whoever I batted with, the talk was obviously there is a bit of help in the wicket but we can’t go into our shell. Get some runs is the only way you can put pressure on the bowler. We wanted to run hard and put the loose balls away."
The winning moment came when Jadeja hit the winning boundary off Starc, going for an aerial drive wide of mid-on, as India won by five wickets with more than 10 overs to spare, going 1-0 up with two games to go. The partnership between Rahul and Jadeja, worth 108, proved to be the difference in the end.
Conclusion:
With the riveting four-match Test series behind them, India and Australia gear up for some white-ball action with the two sides facing off in the first of three One-Day Internationals. Team India once again emerged victorious against Australia in a Test series, winning the four-Test rubber 2-1 after the final Test in Ahmedabad ended in a high-scoring draw.
The Rohit Sharma-led side had retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after winning the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi inside three days. The third Test in Indore ended inside three days in an Australian victory, as Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon managed to spin a web around the Indian batters. However, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli scored tons in Ahmedabad to help the hosts score nearly 600 and evaporate Australia’s hopes of pulling off a series-leveling win.
Australia, incidentally, were the last team to beat India on their own backyard in any format, winning three games in a row after losing the first two in an ODI series in 201.
