Rahul, Jadeja guide India home in jittery chase
A rearguard century partnership between KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja helped India come out on top in a jittery run chase against Australia in the opening ODI in Mumbai on Friday (March 17). Rahul and Jadeja joined forces at a crucial stage with India losing five wickets in the low-scoring contest but the duo showcased excellent temperament to guide the hosts home with 61 balls to spare.
India were put under a lot of pressure very early in the chase. Defending just 188, Australia needed early wickets and the move to hand Marcus Stoinis the new ball worked. Ishan Kishan failed to negotiate the movement and was trapped lbw and the left-hander also wasted a review on his way back. Starc then bowled a testing spell in the powerplay that saw him silence the home crowd.
The left-arm seamer bowled two identical deliveries that swung back into the right hander to account for Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav off successive deliveries. While Rahul drove the hat-trick ball for a beautiful boundary, the Australian seamers continued to pose questions by consistently moving the ball. Starc was given an extra over with the new ball and the decision worked wonders for the visitors as Shubman Gill failed to keep a drive down, to get caught at point. At 39/4, India were under extreme pressure before Hardik Pandya and Rahul resurrected the chase.
Pandya hammered his first ball for a boundary and Rahul at the other end started to find the boundary as well. The stand-in captain then took on the short ball from Cameron Green to upper cut him for a six but when he attempted a pull against Stoinis, he got out by finding the fielder near the boundary. That brought out Jadeja to the middle as the two batters took their time to eat into the target. As the last recognised pair, both Jadeja and Rahul took on the responsibility and were content with just the odd boundary given the required run rate was well within control.
The returning Glenn Maxwell, brought on to trouble Jadeja, did find some grip on the surface but both the batters managed to negate the threat. When Stoinis offered width to Jadeja, the allrounder broke the shackles by powering it to the boundary. Rahul eventually brought up his fifty as India now slowly took control of the contest. The 30-year-old then stamped his authority by fetching three boundaries in the space of five deliveries including a huge six off Adam Zampa over wide long on. That eventually forced Australia to throw the towel as the duo guided India home quite comfortably in the end.
Earlier in the day, Australia were stunned by India’s spectacular turnaround with the ball as they went from a strong 129/2 to get bowled out for just 188. Australia lost Travis Head early in the game but Mitchell Marsh, opening in place of David Warner, gave them a very good start by constantly finding the boundary in the powerplay. Marsh also showcased his power game and cleared the ropes a few times including a stunning straight six off Shardul Thakur as Australia raced to 59/1 by the end of the powerplay.
While Steve Smith edged behind to the ‘keeper, Marsh continued his onslaught after bringing up his fifty. From 50 off 51 balls, Marsh went to 81 off 64 in no time as India were put under the pump. However, Jadeja came to India’s rescue as he got one to grip a little off the surface forcing Marsh to mistime and get caught at short third man. Jadeja himself then took a stunning catch from the same position to get rid of Marnus Labuschagne. Those two wickets triggered a collapse.
Mohammad Shami came back into the attack to rip through the middle order. Green missed a delivery aimed at off stump to get bowled and Stoinis edged one behind to get caught by Gill, who had dropped him on nought first ball earlier. Josh Inglis, who looked good initially in his short stay, inside-edged one onto his stumps as the slide continued. While their final hope Maxwell chipped one to Hardik in tame fashion, Mohammed Siraj came back to wrap things up as Australia’s innings came to a screeching halt, that eventually played a role in them conceding an early lead in the series.
Brief scores:
Australia 188 in 35.4 overs (Mitchell Marsh 81; Mohammed Shami 3/17, Mohammed Siraj 3/29) lost to India 191/5 in 39.5 overs (KL Rahul 75*, Ravindra Jadeja 45*; Mitchell Starc 3/49, Marcus Stoinis 2/27) by 5 wickets.
(Cricbuzz)
