Counter-attacking hundreds and dearth of wickets was the order of the day at the unusually batting-friendly WACA track on Tuesday that saw three centuries, a total on 619 runs but only eight wickets in Australia’s comfortable five-wicket win in the first ODI against India.
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Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravindran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran.
India will test out several uncapped players in the limited- overs series in Australia, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Monday. When Rohit is on song, there is very little that one can do to stop him and that is exactly what he did to the Australian bowlers, who were picked apart in the last 10 overs.
Smith began to accelerate and followed Bailey to three figures soon after, off only 97 balls including six fours and a towering six.
Captain Smith made 149 while Bailey, who could have been given out before he had troubled the scorers, hit 112.
He built his innings steadily, bringing up his 50 from 63 balls, his century from 122 and his 150 from 155, mixing quick singles with some powerful boundary hitting.
Steven Smith led by example as Australia won the first one-day worldwide against India by five wickets in Perth.
Rohit’s 163-ball knock was the highest score by a visiting batsman against Australia, overtaking West Indies great Viv Richards’ unbeaten 153 in 1979 in Melbourne.
Australia could hand debuts to a couple of youngsters over the course of the series with the selectors going with Joel Paris and Scott Boland to aid the bowling department. All-rounder James Faulkner returned to the team for the first time since he served a suspension for a drink driving offense. Their partnership was the highest second for India against Australia in the ODIs surpassing the previous best of 199 set by Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman in Indore back in 2001.
But it wasn’t all bad news for Boland, who snared an excellent diving catch to give Faulkner (2-60) one of his two wickets.
He brilliantly caught and bowled Finch (8) in his second over, then had the risky Warner (5) caught at midwicket by Kohli in his third.
The atmosphere in Perth ahead of the opener of the ODI series between the top two ODI teams in the world could not be more different than if it was played in India.
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India was bundled out of the World Cup semi-finals in brutal fashion by Australia past year, with the home side recording a 95-run victory at the SCG.
