Australia skipper Steve Smith on Sunday said India’s Hardik Pandya and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s partnership made the difference in the first One-day worldwide here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday.
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Chahal credited Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni for his performance and mentioned that the duo’s suggestions helped him pick wickets at regular intervals. After that Australia didn’t actually have a moment in the game, except a short little cameo from Glenn Maxwell (after the game was reduced to 21 overs due to rain).
The visitors never looked comfortable after Jasprit Bumrah bowled out Hilton Cartwright and Pandya chipped with the wickets of skipper Steve Smith and Travis Head.
Australia’s fast bowlers were brilliant with the new ball, Nathan Coulter-Nile in particular making the most of his sizeable IPL experience and reducing the hosts to 11-3. With plenty of balls and time under their belt, the duo went about carefully to take India to 281 runs. But the Indians collapsed, and got to the final over of the game off which they needed six to win with one wicket in hand. Smith’s drop of Rohit Sharma on four cost only 24 runs, but his grassing of a tough chance offered by Pandya when he was on 13 was match-defining.
In Chennai where India won by 26 runs, the pair showed their value to Indian cricket by sharing a 118-run stand to rescue India from 87 for five. “If you think about the current series we’ve just completed in Bangladesh, that had real context for the two countries involved but that context would be even more significant and highly elevated if there were points at stake as part of a Test championship”, he said. Well played team India and we should overpower Aussies in the present series easily! He reached his third ODI half-century off 48 balls.
The hard-hitting all-rounder was caught off Zampa in the same over. He however showcased his attacking side in the last overs taking the team total past 270. In doing so, he crossed 4000 ODI runs on Indian soil, becoming only the second India batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to do so.
“So if the wickets are the same you need someone to go on and make a really big score”.
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And Kohli said India once again today proved how good their lower-middle order was.
