IND vs AUS 1st ODI: KL Rahul's Knock After Clinical Bowling Performance Helps India Beat Australia By 5 Wickets

IND vs AUS 1st ODI: Rahul scored his 13th half-century, a superb one under pressure, given the context of the game.

India's KL Rahul celebrates after scoring a half-century (50 runs) during the first one-day international (ODI) cricket match between India and Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 17, 2023. ( Image Source :AFP )

Mumbai: India have handed Australia a 5-wicket defeat in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to go 1-0 up in the series. After choosing to bowl first, the hosts first bowled out Australia for 188 before chasing down the total in 39.5 overs.

As long as Mitchell Marsh was out in the middle, the wicket looked good for batting as he scored a splendid 81 off 65 deliveries. However, no other batter on this surface looked as comfortable. Mohammed Shami was the pick of the bowlers for Team India as he scalped 3 wickets for 17 runs. Mohammed Siraj also picked 3 wickets, giving away 29 runs. 

Such was the dominance of Indian bowlers on Friday that each of the bowlers used by stand-in captain Hardik Pandya, who made his ODI captaincy debut with this game, picked up a wicket barring Shardul Thakur who was only required to bowl 2 overs. The skipper himself 1 for 29, Ravindra Jadeja took 2 for 46 and Kuldeep Yadav registered figures of 1 for 48.

In response, India lost early wickets with Mitchell Starc and Marcus Stoinis bowling superb spells upfront especially Starc who produced several edges and beat the bat on even more occasions. The left-arm pacer was wrecker in chief for the Aussies as he took 3 wickets while Stoinis removed the other two wickets to fall.

However, none of them could get past KL Rahul (75*) who was one of India's last hopes after the fall of those early wickets. The wicketkeeper-batter scored his 13th half-century, a superb one under pressure and given the context of the game taking his time before scoring a few quick runs once the target was in sight and he had crossed his half-century.

Jadeja too was one of the stars of the match and after his spell with the ball and a superb catch to get rid of Marnus Labuschagne, he came back to add over a 100 runs for the sixth wicket and returned only after he had finished the job for the team. He remained unbeaten on 45 and scored the winning runs for the side.