Australia slump to ODI loss against India

Australia have lost the first one-day international to India in a rain-affected encounter in Chennai.

Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya hit Australia all over the park then took wickets with the ball in the first ODI. (AAP)

Australia captain Steve Smith has no intention of panicking after his side lost the first one day-international to India in a rain-shortened match.

While the visitors went down after a lengthy delay on Sunday, Smith isn't reading too much into the result, having collapsed chasing a revised target 164 off 21 overs.

"I'm not really concerned," Smith said.

"160 with one new ball would have made things easier.

"You don't really have a great deal of time to make things up when you need eight an over basically from ball one."

Australia slumped to 4-35 in the eighth over when David Warner nicked Kaldeep Yadav through to MS Dhoni.

Glenn Maxwell tried to launch a rearguard action, but his 39 off 18 balls wasn't enough to save his side from going one-nil down in the five-match series.

Maxwell was caught in the deep off Yuzvendra Chahal (3-30) looking to clear the boundary for a sixth time before Marcus Stoinis (three) departed three balls later.

From 6-76 the mountain was too steep to climb and Australia finished 27 runs short at 9-137.

It was a cruel loss given the match was only minutes from being abandoned when play resumed.

Rain started falling shortly after India fought back to post 7-281 off their 50 overs after the Australian bowlers dominated early.

Injury-plagued paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile (3-44) made a dream start to his first international match since June last year with a sensational opening spell.

The 29-year-old's outswing yielded three wickets in 13 balls including the prized scalp of India captain Virat Kohli who was out for a duck to a sensational one-handed catch from Maxwell.

But with India reeling at 5-87 after Stoinis chimed in with two wickets, Dhoni (79 off 88) steadied the ship in trademark fashion.

"MS then finished it off like he does," Kohli said.

Dhoni combined with Hardik Pandya for a vital 118-run partnership.

"In the end it proved to be a match-winning partnership," Smith said.

"Unfortunately we weren't able to capitalise on the start we had."

Pandya looked to be on his way to a century, but he top-edged an attempted slog sweep to third man off Zampa to top score with 83 off 66 balls, including five sixes and five fours.

Later, Pandya took the crucial wickets of Smith and Travis Head to finish with 2-28 in a man-of-the-match performance.

The series now moves to Kolkata on Thursday.


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world