Match Report
Aus vs Ind (First ODI): Rohit Sharma’s Brilliant Century Goes In Vain
By Sandy - Jan 12, 2019 5:10 pm
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The host side Australia brilliantly won the first ODI of the three-match ODI series against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney) on Saturday’s day/night clash. While the hosts scored 288/5 in the first batting, the visiting side India managed to reply only 254/9 at the end of 50 overs, despite Rohit Sharma’s brilliant 133 runs knock.

Australia
Australian cricket team

After winning the toss, Australian skipper Aaron Finch decided to bat first. Finch opened that innings along with the wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey. On the third over of the match, Finch was bowled by the Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for just six runs.

Just before completion of the mandatory powerplay (0.1-10 overs), Carey lost his wicket after scoring 24 runs and putting a 33-run partnership with Usman Khawaja.

Also watch: MS Dhoni Almost Got The DRS Wrong

Struggling on 41/2 on 10 overs, Khawaja and Shaun Marsh controlled that innings by providing a 92-run partnership for the third wicket. Khawaja completed his half-century in 70 balls. The left-arm Indian spinner broke that partnership after dismissing Khawaja on 59 runs off 81 balls (6 fours).

Australia
Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja

After that, Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb had a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket where Marsh completed his half-century in 65 balls. Soon after completing his half-century, Marsh lost his wicket on 54 runs off 70 balls (4 fours).

Also watch: Rohit Sharma Takes A Sharp Reflex Catch

At next, Handscomb had another 68-run partnership along with Marcus Stoinis for the fifth wicket that helped the team to score well over 250 runs. Handscomb played a fiery knock as he completed half-century in exact run a ball and scored 73 runs off 61 balls with the help of 6 fours and 2 sixes.

In the end, Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell had an unbroken 34-run partnership in 16 balls for the sixth wicket. Stoinis remained not out on 47 runs off 43 balls (2 fours and 2 sixes) while Maxwell played a good cameo as he was not out on 11 off 5 balls (1 four). In the final powerplay (40.1-50 overs) of that innings, Australia managed 93 runs for one wicket while the hosts scored 59/1 in the last five overs of that innings.

Also watch: Mohammed Shami Takes A Brilliant Diving Catch

Among the Indian bowlers, the pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/66) and the left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav (2/54) bagged two wickets each while another left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (1/48) claimed the other wicket of that innings.

Also read: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Becomes Fourth Slowest Bowler To Take 100 ODI Wickets

Chasing down 289 runs target, the visiting side India went down to 4/3 at the very early stage. While the opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for a golden duck, the skipper Virat Kohli (3) and the no.4 batsman Ambati Rayudu (0) followed Dhawan soon. Since then, another opener Rohit Sharma took the charge of Indian innings along with MS Dhoni who just completed his 10,000 ODI runs for India after opening his account in this game.

Australia
Australian cricket team

Also read: MS Dhoni Becomes Fifth Indian To Score 10,000 ODI Runs

Sharma and Dhoni were very patience in that difficult situation and provided an important 137-run partnership for the fourth wicket to stay in the game. While Rohit reached to his half-century in 62 balls, Dhoni took 93 balls to complete his half-century.

After completing his half-century, Sharma played more powerfully. Though Dhoni was dismissed on 51 runs (96 balls) after which the visiting side was losing their wickets in regular intervals, Sharma was playing hard-fought innings to make the final attempt. Just after Dinesh Karthik was played on for 12 runs, the right-handed opening batsman Sharma completed his 22nd century in 110 balls.

Rohit
Rohit Sharma

The all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja scored only 8 runs while Rohit finally lost his wicket in the 46th over after scoring a marvellous knock of 133 runs off 129 balls with the help of 10 fours and 6 sixes. The lone warrior in that battle finally lost his wicket when he tried to hit a six over midwicket against Marcus Stoinis’ slower delivery but he was caught out at deep midwicket by Glenn Maxwell.

Also read: Twitteraties Praising Rohit Sharma For His Great Fighting Century Knock

In the end, Kuldeep Yadav (3 runs) and Mohammed Shami (1 run) were also dismissed in cheaply while Bhuvneshwar Kumar remained unbeaten on 29 runs off 23 balls (4 fours). India’s innings ended on 254/9 in 50 overs.

Among the Aussie bowlers, both the opening pacers Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson provided the brilliant start for the hosts from which the visiting side never returned to make the serious challenge. Behrendorff had the bowling figure of 10-2-39-2 while the Player of the Match award winner Richardson had the bowling figure of 10-2-2-6-4. Also, Marcus Stoinis (2/66) bagged two wickets while Peter Siddle (1/48) picked up one wicket after returning to the ODI cricket for the first time since November 2010.

Richardson
Australian pacer Jhye Richardson won the Player of the Match award

After winning the first ODI of the series by 34 runs, Australia has taken the 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. The second ODI of the series will be played at Adelaide Oval (Adelaide) on Tuesday (15 January).

Here are some Twitter reactions: 

Tags Australian cricket teamfirst ODIIndia tour of Australia 2018/19Indian cricket teamJhye RichardsonRohit SharmaSydney ODI

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