India: MS Dhoni has already mentioned that one of Gurukeerat Singh Mann or Manish Pandey will bat in the lower-middle order. Kohli’s record against Australia in their backyard has been dismal, but he did well to score 91 off 97 balls, striking 9 boundaries and 1 six. The first Indian to score a hundred in an ODI on this ground, Rohit’s innings was poetry and prose rolled into one as he mixed brutal hitting with some sublime strokeplay in his 207-run stand with Virat Kohli.
Advertisement
India’s Rohit Sharma scored 171 not out in his side’s total of 309-3 against Australia in th …
He brought up his half-century in 63 balls and then increased the tempo of his innings.
In the 36th over, Sharma registered his ninth ODI century and acknowledged the applause from the crowd.
He took 2/24 from four overs in a Twenty20 practice game against a Western Australian XI before conceding just 22 runs from seven overs in a one-dayer.
After Kohli had fallen short of three figures – thanks to Finch’s catch at long-on off James Faulkner (2-60) – India added 66 from the remaining 33 balls, Boland (0-74) coming in for severe punishment at the hands of Rohit.
The Rohit-Kohli combination tore apart an inexperienced Australian attack as their debutant duo of left-arm fast bowler Joel Paris (0/53 in 8 overs) and right arm medium fast Scott Boland (0/74 in 10 overs) were taken to the cleaners.
Accurate bowling from Sran and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-42) reduced Australia to 40 for two in the powerplay phase.
From the moment Smith (149 from 135 balls) and Bailey (112 from 120) joined each other in the fifth over, they had few objectives other than turning the strike over and milking singles.
By taking minimal risks and rotating the strike efficiently, Bailey and Smith scored at over five an over easily. It was not long before Smith brought up his own fifty as Australia reached 139 for two at the half-way stage. “That most likely means Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and a possible debut for Barinder Sran”.
India and Australia played out a high scoring encounter at Perth, with Steve Smith and George Bailey’s 242-run partnership going on to have the most telling impact in the contest. “(Defending) 310 is a lot of runs on any wicket in the world”.
Final score: Australia 310/5 in 49.2 overs beat India 309/3 in 50 overs by five wickets.
Don’t forget to come back for the match result, man of the match, video highlights, full / complete scorecard / scoreboard and much more.
Advertisement
The visiting team will need to win at least a game in the series to retain their current second position in the ICC ODI Team Championships.
