With the hosts within sniffing distance of a win, the destructive Glen Maxwell (8) came to crease but perished cheaply while trying to accelerate.
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With two debutants, Australia’s bowling does have a shade of inexperience around it. However, as Smith suggests, Perth is probably the best place for a fast bowler to make a debut.
After losing opening partner Shikhar Dhawan cheaply for nine runs, Rohit and Kohli (91) steadied the Indian innings by sharing a brilliant partnership of 207-run for the second wicket. Australians’ strength is in their pace bowlers and they are going in with their strengths. India 37/1 after 7 overs. One set batsman batting till the end makes a huge difference.
India vs Australia has always been a contest with lots of runs, wickets and a bit of that we-don’t-really-like-you-so-let’s-crank-the-intensity-a-couple-of-notches. It also turned out to be the highest successful run-chase at the WACA and the third highest in an ODI in Australia. But Smith and Bailey teamed up to take Australia past the finish line, adding as many as 242 runs for the third wicket to thwart India’s hopes of making a winning start to the series. India were 243/2 in 44.3 overs.
Team India will look to get their combination right as they renew their fierce rivalry against a confident Australia here, marking the onset of a long limited-overs schedule stretching until the World T20.
Sharma smashed 13 fours and cleared the boundary seven times to the delight of the large contingent of Indian fans at the ground.
India’s Rohit Sharma raises his bat after scoring a century during their one day worldwide cricket match against Australia in Perth, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. But the two batsmen ran hard between the wickets, and Rohit got the boundaries easily, his swivel-six off Paris a highlight.
Rohit Sharma walks from the field at the end of the innings during the Victoria Bitter One Day International Series match between Australia and India at WACA.
In innings was followed by Ravindra Jadeja’s, who scored 10 off 5 balls.
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New caps Scott Boland and Joel Paris returned combined figures of 0-127 from 18 overs and India looked to be in control when Sran (3-56) removed Finch and Warner inside the first five overs of the reply, only for Bailey’s let-off to represent a turning point.
