Report: India vs Australia Star Sports 1st ODI 2013

The Australians have clearly learnt from their T20I loss at Rajkot. It was evident in their changed bowling plan of keeping the length short 80 percent of the time. Indian batsmen struggled against the short and back-of-length deliveries, hence failing to chase Australia’s 305. The visitors went one-up in the series with a 72-run win after bowling India out for 232. (Also Read: Stats: India vs Australia Star Sports 1st ODI 2013)

India’s chase began by the loss of Shikhar Dhawan (7) in the seventh over. James Faulkner not only got rid of the Indian batsman, but also the Australian wicketkeeper, Brad Haddin, by accidentally hitting him in the eye while high-fiving him. Phillip Hughes took over the duties behind the stumps before Haddin returned on the field during the 30^th over. Faulkner more than made up for the accident and the dropped catch of Suresh Raina (39 off 45) with his bowling figures of 8-0-47-3. (Also Read: Aaron Finch: We have confidence in our batting)

Rohit Sharma, after getting to 42 (46 balls) and looking good for a big one, played a lazy and rash shot to cause his own demise. Shane Watson bowled a shortish delivery, Rohit dabbed at it and the inside edge carried to Hughes behind the wicket. (Also Read: Was trying not to bowl outside off: Ravindra Jadeja)

Virat Kohli (61 off 85) and Raina put up a 71-run partnership. While Raina struggled for a bit against short balls, Virat calmly played his way into his knock. Once set, the right-hander unfurled a streak of gorgeous cricketing shots  – a crisp square-cut off the back foot to Xavier Doherty, two silky drives through extra-cover and cover off Adam Voges and a swiveling pull shot off Faulkner.

Virat lost Raina in the 28^th over when the latter mistimed his favourite midwicket hoick, off Faulkner. Yuvraj Singh followed soon, after getting off the mark, by top-edging a Faulkner bouncer for a six. Mitchell Johnson’s ploy of setting Yuvraj up with yorkers before rattling him with a fast bouncer worked.

Soon after Yuvraj’s wicket, Virat brought up his fifty with a deft nudge to thirdman for four. He eventually fell, beaten in length by Watson, who slipped in a fuller ball after peppering him with a few bouncers. Playing across the line proved too expensive for Virat.

After Faulkner and Watson got most big guns, Clint McKay got the biggest of them – MS Dhoni. He bowled quick and just outside off-stump, and Dhoni was late to react, getting clean bowled as a result. With Dhoni went India’s last hope of a miraculous win.

Earlier, after their skipper won the toss, the Australian openers did a fine job of shifting their game from T20 mode to ODI tempo. Aaron Finch – a man who likes to muscle the ball rather than caress it – in particular, showed tremendous control in building his innings.

The going was rather sedate in the beginning as the Aussies scrapped 14 runs in the first five overs. It was Finch who broke the shackles by creaming Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two fours and a six. The ball went sailing through mid-on, covers and midwicket. Ishant Sharma and R Ashwin had flashes of the Rajkot T20I as Finch dismissed their short and wide offerings over midwicket, covers, point and thirdman. The opener brought up his half-century in the 18^th over with an uncharacteristically delicate shot, guiding a gentle Virat Kohli leg-cutter past thirdman. His 50 came in 54 balls.

Finch’s opening partner, Phil Hughes, was big on the pull shot and the cover drive. The left-hander fell three short of his fifty when he was done in by Dhoni’s shrewdness and Raina’s sharpness. A Jadeja delivery spun into him and he managed to direct it straight into the hands of Raina at leg-slip. India got their first breakthrough in the 19^th over with Australia’s score on 110.

India’s second success followed in the very next over when Shane Watson lofted Yuvraj Singh’s first delivery straight in the hands of Jadeja at long-on.

Then began the resurrection; George Bailey walked in and played what can aptly be described as a captain’s knock. While Jadeja and Yuvraj kept the boundaries in check, Bailey quietly collected runs in singles and doubles. Finch, however, succumbed to the pressure and lofted a Yuvraj ball straight in the air to be caught by Virat at long-off. Yuvraj’s comeback kept getting more and more sensational. After picking up two wickets, he pulled off a sharp direct hit to get rid of Adam Voges.

Bailey, in the meantime, continued at his own speed as he was joined by a hard hitter in Glenn Maxwell (31 off 23 balls). He had some fun in the batting powerplay, smacking Ashwin and Vinay Kumar over midwicket, covers and square-leg for three sixes. He perished trying to hit another one, to Vinay.

Brad Haddin got out with 10 to his name, but Bailey upped the pace of his knock. He smacked five fours in four overs before holing out at the midwicket fence. After the skipper’s departure, James Faulkner, Mitchell Johnson, Clint McKay and their respective long handles ensured that Australia got past the 300-run mark.

Man of the Match: George Bailey for his match-winning knock of 85 off 82 balls, including 10 fours.

Bailey: "It was a fantastic all round performance and that's exactly how we're going to have to play throughout the series if we're going to beat India. There was nice variety to our bowling, there were a couple of times when India got on top and to our bowlers' credit, they found a way to fight back. Johnson's been really impressive over the last couple of months, he was really impressive in England and if he can continue that here it will give us a great lift at the start of every innings. It was a great start from Finch & Hughes, they set a great platform, Glenn Maxwell provided some good impetus in the middle and, at the end, James Faulkner and the rest of the bowlers hit the ball really well. It's important to start well, it's a long series and it's great that everyone contributed."

Dhoni: "It was 30-40 runs too many but I still think that we should have gone a lot closer. I'm a bit disappointed with the shot selection. When you're chasing and you're set, it's very important to carry on and that's where we lacked in this game. We all knew that it would swing a bit in the second innings. Also, the pitch was able to provide some extra bounce to the fast bowlers which Australia exploited. Our fast bowlers struggled a bit, they're not genuine fast bowlers, they're swing bowlers, so we couldn't generate the bounce. The spinners did well in the middle but at the end we gave away too many runs. We were in with a decent position at the halfway stage of our innings, if the batsmen had carried on until the powerplay and into the last 15 overs, we could have made a game of it."

source: bcci.tv