AUS vs IND: 1st ODI Review – Finch and Smith slam tons to stun India in Sydney 

India made a comeback to international cricket after a long time. But it wasn’t a great outing for them as Australia comfortably defeated them by 66 runs in the first of the three-match ODI series. After opting to bat first, Aaron Finch and David Warner added 156 runs for the opening wicket to leave the Indian bowlers flustered.

Warner scored 69 while Finch went on to slam his 17th ODI ton. After the fall of the first wicket, Steve Smith walked out to bat and gave the much-needed impetus to the Aussie innings. He smashed a 62-ball century to leave the visitors stunned. Glenn Maxwell also had his share of fun reverse sweeping nonchalantly and scored 45 off 19 balls.

All the three batsmen were dropped and they made India pay heavily for the same. Australia slammed 374 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets after 50 overs. Mohammed Shami was the best bowler for India with the figures of 3/59.

The chase was never going to be easy but India began well with their openers Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan adding more than 50 runs in the fifth over itself. However, Josh Hazlewood broke the back of their chase by sending back Agarwal, skipper Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession. KL Rahul also got out soon to leave the team reeling at 101/4 in the 14th over.

This is when Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan joined hands to stitch a brilliant partnership. The duo added 128 runs for the fifth wicket to keep the team in the hunt. Pandya, especially, was the aggressor in the partnership and he scored 90 runs. But once the partnership was broken courtesy Adam Zampa, it was all one-way traffic. The leggie ended with four wickets to his name as India could only reach 308 runs falling 64 runs short.

Top performers

Turning Points

Steve Smith’s whirlwind knock:

A lot was said about how to dismiss Steve Smith ahead of the ODI series. And the man proved that it’s not going to be easy at all. He shuffled in his crease superbly to throw the Indian bowlers off their lengths and churned out quick runs which changed the momentum of the innings. It was due to him that Australia reached 374 and anything lesser than that would’ve meant an extremely close game as India also crossed the 300-run mark. Smith scored 105 off 66 balls with 11 fours and 4 sixes and turned the game on its head.

Personal Milestones/Records Achieved

Aaron Finch completed 5000 ODI runs in this match.

Finch bettered by only his opening partner Warner at the top of this list! ? #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/HCfickYyOS

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 27, 2020

Hardik Pandya completed 1000 ODI runs in this match.

Way Ahead

The second ODI is a do or die game for India now to stay alive in the series. Australia, on the other hand, will look to seal the series with a win on Sunday at the same venue.