Perth, January 12
Captain Steve Smith and George Bailey struck fluent centuries as Australia chased down a steep 310-run target to win the first One-day International against India by five wickets in Perth on Tuesday.
Smith fell for his highest ODI score of 149 with Australia two runs short of victory. The right-hander left the ground shaking his head before his team sealed the victory with four balls to spare.
Opener Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten 171 to lift India to 309/3 after the touring side won the toss and chose to bat first in sublime batting conditions at the WACA ground.
India lost Shikhar Dhawan (nine) early but Rohit, the only cricketer with two double centuries in this format, and Test captain Virat Kohli (91) laid the platform for a late flourish with a 207-run stand for the second wicket.
India’s debutant left-arm paceman Barinder Sran (3/56) gave his side a dream start by dismissing hard-hitting openers Aaron Finch (eight) and David Warner (five) in successive overs to reduce Australia to 21/2. But Bailey (112) scored his third ODI hundred and added 242 for the third wicket with his skipper to take the match away from India.
Bailey was lucky to survive an appeal for caught behind on the first ball he faced with television replays confirming Sran’s delivery brushing his glove on the way through to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India also missed several opportunities to run the right-hander out when their throws failed to hit the stumps.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin sent back Bailey and Glenn Maxwell (six) in successive overs to give India hope but it was too little, too late.
The 28-year-old Rohit, whose 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014 remains the highest individual score in the 50-over format, hit 13 fours and seven sixes. Rohit’s 163-ball knock was the highest score by a visiting batsman against Australia, overtaking West Indies great Viv Richards’s unbeaten 153 in 1979 in Melbourne.
Kohli fell in an unselfish manner trying to score quickly for his team and was out caught close to the boundary rope by Aaron Finch off paceman James Faulkner, who finished with figures of 2/60 in his 10 overs.
Paceman Scott Boland made a forgettable debut for Australia as he gave away 74 runs in his 10 overs while the other debutant, Joel Paris, also went wicketless, conceding 53 in his eight. Brisbane will host the second match of the five-game series on Friday.
Khawaja called up as Warner goes on paternity leave
Top-order batsman Usman Khawaja has been drafted into the Australia squad for the ongoing series in place of opener David Warner whose wife is expecting the couple’s second child.
Khawaja will join the squad in Brisbane and, at this stage, will remain for the second and third matches of the five-game series. National selector Rod Marsh said Warner would be welcomed back into the squad when circumstances allow.
“We wish both David and Candice (Warner’s wife) well and look forward to welcoming David back into the squad when circumstances allow,” Marsh said. — Reuters, PTI
Scoreboard
India
R Sharma not out 171
S Dhawan c Marsh b Hazlewood 9
V Kohli c Finch b Faulkner 91
MS Dhoni c Boland b Faulkner 18
R Jadeja not out 10
Extras (lb 6, w 4) 10
Total (3 wickets; 50 overs) 309
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-243, 3-286
Bowling
J Hazlewood 10-0-41-1
J Paris 8-0-53-0
M Marsh 9-0-53-0
S Boland 10-0-74-0
J Faulkner 10-0-60-2
G Maxwell 3-0-22-0
Australia
A Finch c & b Sran 8
D Warner c Kohli b Sran 5
S Smith c Kohli b Sran 149
G Bailey c B Kumar b Ashwin 112
G Maxwell c Dhawan b Ashwin 6
M Marsh not out 12
J Faulkner not out 1
Extras (lb 5, w 12) 17
Total (5 wickets; 49.2 overs) 310
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-21, 3-263,
4-273, 5-308
Bowling
B Sran 9.2-0-56-3
B Kumar 9-0-42-0
R Sharma 1-0-11-0
U Yadav 10-0-54-0
R Jadeja 9-0-61-0
R Ashwin 9-0-68-2
V Kohli 2-0-13-0
Man of the Match: Steve Smith
Numbers game
171 Rohit Sharma’s score is the highest by a visiting batsman against Australia in Australia.
4 Centuries for Rohit in ODI defeats. Among Indians, only Tendulkar (14) has more hundreds in lost causes.
1 This was the first time that more than one double-century partnership were witnessed in a single ODI. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli added 207, while Steve Smith and George Bailey added 242 runs.
85 Bailey’s average against India in ODIs. It is the best for any batsman with 500 or more runs against India.
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