KL Rahul. (Photo Source: BCCI)
An excellent and composed half-century from KL Rahul and handy contributions from the middle-order helped India edge over Australia in a tricky-run chase by five wickets in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Regarding how the game panned out, Hardik Pandya called it right at the toss and asked Australia to bat first. The visitors lost Travis Head in the second over as Siraj continued his powerplay dominance. Skipper Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh added 72 runs for the second wicket at a brisk rate. Hardik Pandya then broke the good-going partnership by setting up Smith.
Mitchell Marsh, however, got to his 14th ODI half-century and was ably supported by Marnus Labuschagne; the duo added 52 runs for the third wicket. Marsh amassed 81 runs from 65 balls, including ten fours and five maximums. Ravindra Jadeja broke the good-going partnership by picking up dangerous-looking Marsh; from thereon, Australia never recovered as they lost seven wickets for 49 runs, eventually being bowled out for 188 inside 36 overs.
For India, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj picked three wickets each. In response to the 188, Indian batters did not live up to the expectations as Mitchell Starc ripped through the top orders quickly, leaving them in a spot of bother on 39/4 inside 11 overs. The duo of Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul added 44 runs for the fifth wicket, but the intelligence of Marcus Stoinis broke the partnership.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja led the recovery as the duo added 108 runs for the sixth wicket to take India over the line with 10.1 overs to spare. Ravindra Jadeja showed his all-around brilliance scoring 45 runs and picking up two wickets.
Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from the 1st ODI between India and Australia
4 -Mitchell Starc (591) surpassed Mitchell Johnson (590) and became the fourth-highest wicket-taker for Australia across formats.
5 -Mitchell Marsh smashed five sixes in his 81 run-knock, the joint-most number of sixes for an Australian opener against India in India.
Most Sixes by an Australian opener vs India in India in an ODI Innings
5 – Aaron Finch
5 – Mitchell Marsh
4 – Adam Gilchrist
4 -David Warner
3 – Australia recorded their third-lowest score against India.
Lowest ODI Totals for Australia against India in India
141 in Ahmedabad 1986
181 in Indore 2001
188 in Wankhede 2023
50 – Mitchell Marsh (51) has completed 50 sixes in the ODI format.
Most Sixes for Australia in ODIs (Active players)
128 -Glenn Maxwell
92 -David Warner
51 – Mitchell Marsh
47 – Steven Smith
52.33 – KL Rahul averages 52.33 in ODIs while batting at number 4/5.
KL Rahul at number 4/5:
25 – Matches
23 – Inns
942 – Runs
52.33 – Average
95.82 – Sr
2 – 100s
7 – 50s
4 – KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja registered 108, the fourth-highest sixth-wicket partnership for India against Australia.
12 – Hardik Pandya became the 12th Indian captain to take a wicket in ODI.
4 – Mohammed Shami became the fourth-joint most wicket-taker for India against Australia in ODIS, equalling Harbhajan Singh’s tally.
15 – Ravindra Jadeja became India’s fifteenth player to appear in 300 international games.
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