Jadhav, Dhoni Shine as India Beat Aus by 6 Wickets in 1st ODI

MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav put up an unbeaten 141-run stand for the fifth wicket.

(Photo: AP)

• India beat Australia by 6 wickets in the 1st ODI in Hyderbad to take 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.
• Australia: 236 for 7 in 50 overs (Usman Khawaja 50, Glenn Maxwell 40; Mohammed Shami 2/44).
• India: 237 for 4 in 48.2 overs (Kedar Jadhav 81*, MS Dhoni 59*; Adam Zampa 2/49).

Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a chase deep for the umpteenth time but it needed Kedar Jadhav's street smartness to get India back on winning track as they beat Australia by six wickets in the first ODI in Hyderabad on Saturday.

India reached the target in 48.2 overs, riding on a 141-run unconquered stand between Kedar (81 no, 87 balls) and Dhoni (59 no off 72 balls), to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

However, it shouldn't be lost in isolation that India made a heavy weather of an easy target on a not so difficult wicket.

As has been the case these days, Dhoni was once again unable to rotate the strike at the start of his innings and the onus was on Kedar to hit the boundaries after they joined hands at 99 for four with skipper Virat Kohli (44 off 45 balls) and his deputy Rohit Sharma (37 off 66 balls) back in the hut.

While Dhoni hit six fours and a six off Nathan Coulter-Nile, it was the diminutive Maharashtra man, who did the hard yards of finding the gaps. On the way to his fifth half-century, Kedar hit nine fours and a six as he upped the ante once Dhoni started suffering from cramps, getting those big shots out of the closet.

Dhoni completd his 71st half-century in his 339th ODI. Fittingly, Dhoni finished the game with successive boundaries off Marcus Stoinis.

Kedar Jadhav was unbeaten for 81.(Photo: AP)

In the afternoon, Indian bowlers did well to restrict Australia to a sub-par 236 for 7.

It was a vastly different performance from the bowling unit which maintained discipline for the better part of the 50 overs with Mohammed Shami (2/44 in 10 overs) showing the way.

Kuldeep Yadav (2/46 in 10 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (0/33 in 10 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (1/31) made up for a rare off-day that Jasprit Bumrah (2/60 in 10 overs), had by his standards.

Even Usman Khawaja (50) and Glenn Maxwell (40), despite being the top two contributors, weren't exactly comfortable against an Indian attack that bowled as many as 169 dot balls.

This effectively meant Australia couldn't score 28.1 overs out of the 50 overs during Indian innings.

Mohammed Shami was the pick among the bowlers, finishing with 2/44 in 10 overs.(Photo: AP)

This was after Shami bowled a brilliant wicketless first spell which was seen off by Stoinis (37, 53 balls) and Khawaja (50, 76 balls), who added 87 runs for the second wicket after early dismissal of Aaron Finch.

With only 38 runs coming in the first Powerplay, the duo especially Stoinis decided to up the ante against Indian bowling's weakest link Vijay Shankar (0/22 in 3 overs), hitting him for a flurry of boundaries.

Khawaja completed his sixth half-century in ODIs against India in the first ODI in Hyderabad on Saturday.(Photo: AP)

In the next five overs, Australia scored 33 and looked like regaining ground when Jadhav (1/31 from 7 overs) got a lucky breakthrough with a rank half-tracker. Stoinis mistimed the pull shot to Virat Kohli at mid-wicket.

Khawaja completed his sixth half-century in ODIs but couldn't get the elevation while giving Kuldeep the charge. Shankar took a well-judged catch at deep mid-wicket boundary running sideways.

Maxwell joined Peter Handscomb at 97 for three and the duo farmed the strike well during their run-a-ball partnership.

Handscomb was using his feet well but Kuldeep managed to produce a classical chinaman's delivery. Handscomb was deceived twice – first in the air and then it broke back sharply for Dhoni to complete the easiest of glovework.

Once Handscomb was out, India controlled the second Powerplay with Kedar and Jadeja choking the run-flow.

Despite not getting wickets, Jadeja bowled two miserly spells – 5-0-15-0 and 5-0-18-0. To top it, he was hit for only two boundaries and bowled 34 dot balls which kept the visitors under tight leash.

(With inputs from PTI)