India beat Australia in rain-hit ODI PANDYA, DHONI STAR AS CONFIDENT HOSTS CRUISE TO 26-RUN VICTORY
ardik Pandya’s allround brilliance and some excellent bowling by the Indian spinners secured a 26-run victory against Australia under the Duckworth-Lewis method in the rain-hit first oneday international yesterday.
Pandya struck a career-best 83 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni made 79 to help the hosts overcome a top-order collapse and post 281-7 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
However, a lengthy mid-innings rain break left Australia needing 164 runs in 21 overs to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
The hosts appeared to be in firm control with Australia losing the cream of their top order in chasing a revised target of 164 in 21 overs after rain delayed their reply. Australia were 47 for the loss of four wickets, including that of key men Steve Smith and David Warner.
Pandya (83 from 66 balls) and Dhoni (79 from 88) forged an 118-run sixth wicket stand to help India recover from a precarious 87/5 after India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. The 23-year-old Pandya meted out special treatment to Adam Zampa, taking the young leg-spinner to the cleaners on three consecutive occasions to get to his third ODI fifty off 48 balls before falling to the same bowler, later in the innings.
This was the Baroda allrounder’s career-best ODI score, surpassing the 76, which he belted against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy final in England, earlier this year.
Dhoni, at the other end, provided stability with a patient 75-ball 50 but more importantly carried on after the loss of Pandya to forge another healthy 72-run seventh wicket stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (32 not out from 30).
Earlier, India were off to a forgettable start with three of the top four batsmen back in the hut with only 11 runs on the board. Pacer Nathan CoulterNile made a stunning comeback to 50-over cricket by claiming opener Ajinkya Rahane (5), and skipper Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey (both for noughts) for the scorecard to read 11/3.
Rahane was the first to depart after a wild swing at a ball wide outside the off-stump found the edge and sailed into Matthew Wade’s gloves behind the wicket. Next up was Kohli, who couldn’t resist the temptation to drive and Glenn Maxwell leapt in the air to take an incredible one-handed catch.
Pandey, too, nicked one to Wade to give the 29-year-old Coulter-Nile his third wicket.
With India tottering at 87/5, it all depended on the last recognised batting duo of Dhoni and Pandya, who got their act together to deliver the needed stability. The stumper then added the late order fireworks with Bhuvneshwar for company.
The 36-year-old Ranchi stumper started off slowly and was overtaken by Pandya early on but took off in the later stages to reach a comfortable total. H. Cartwright b Bumrah 1 S. Smith c Bumrah b H. Pandya 1 T. Head c Dhoni b H. Pandya 5 G. Maxwell c M. Pandey b Chahal 39 M. Stoinis c sub b K. Yadav 3 M. Wade st Dhoni b Chahal 9 J. Faulkner not out 32 P. Cummins c Bumrah b Chahal 9 N. Coulter-Nile c Jadhav b B. Kumar 2 A. Zampa not out 5
(lb-1 w-5) 6 (for 9 wickets, 21 overs) 137
1-15,2-20,3-29, 4-35,5-76,676,7-93, 8-109, 9-127
B. Kumar 4 - 0 - 25 - 1(w-2) J. Bumrah 4 - 0 - 20 - 1(w-1) H. Pandya 4 - 0 28 - 2(w-1) K. Yadav 4 - 0 - 33 - 2 Y. Chahal 5-0-30-3(w-1)
Extras Total Fall of wickets:
Bowling: Umpire:
Anil Chaudhary Umpire: Marais Erasmus TV umpire: Richard Illingworth Jeff Crowe Result: India won by 26 runs (D/L Method)
Match referee: