India defeated Australia in the first One-Day International by six wickets with the help of MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav’s timely fifties in Hyderabad. Chasing 237, India was reeling at 99/4 but from there on Dhoni and Jadhav shared an unbeaten 141 run stand for the fifth wicket and handed India an early lead in the five-match series.
Jadhav top-scored with 81 not out apart from taking the wicket of Marcus Stoinis at a crucial juncture. Hence, he was named the man of the match for his match-winning efforts in Hyderabad. He thanked Dhoni for helping him while on the pitch, which composed his batting approach during the chase. Also, he termed Dhoni and Kohli as the best chaser in the world.
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“Recently in Australia, we pulled off a similar kind of a chase. I had that in the back of my mind. When you have Mahi bhai at the other end, you just have to listen to him. I just did that again today. I tried to learn a lot from him (Dhoni). MS and Cheeku (Kohli) are the best chasers in the game, I feel,” said Kedar during the post-match presentation.
Talking about his valuable bowling contribution in the ODIs, Kedar revealed that he doesn’t think like he is a bowler and his bowling is all about reading the batsmen’s mind.
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“My bowling is all about reading batsmen’s mind. I have two or three options with the angle. I tried to bowl stump-to-stump. The best part about my bowling is, I don’t think like I’m a bowler, there’s no extra responsibility. I enjoy my bowling,” he concluded.
Australia scored 236/7 in their allotted 50 overs, where only Usman Khawaja managed to cross 50-run mark. Glenn Maxwell was looking good to score yet another big score but he was undone by Mohammad Shami’s brilliant ball.
India chased down the total with few hiccups but this win will please the team management more as the middle order took the responsibility and drove India over the line. The second ODI will be played on March 5 in Nagpur’s Vidarbha Cricket Association ground.
