India tour of Australia 2020-21, 3-match ODI series, First ODI, Australia vs India - Australia won by 66 runs
Friday, Nov 27, 2020, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Home team Australia, batting first, posted a mammoth total of 374/6 in 50 overs courtesy of crucial contributions from their top order! Openers David Warner and Aaron Finch got them off to a flier with a 156-run stand for the first wicket. Though Warner departed for 69 (off 76 deliveries), Finch carried on his merry way to get to his 17th ODI century - 114 off 124 deliveries.
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| Image Credits: Cricket Australia |
With the departure of Finch in the 40th over, Smith shouldered the responsibility who scored a brilliant 62-ball hundred. This is his fastest in this format of the game and also the third fastest century for any Australian batsman in ODIs. Glenn Maxwell who had a forgettable IPL 2020 season with the bat, scored a quick-fire 45 runs off just 19 deliveries (5 fours, 3 sixes) to give them momentum during the death overs.
Overall, Australia got to a mammoth target of 374/6 batting their full quota of 50 overs. This is the highest total for Australia against India in this format while the third best total scored against India thus far! All the Indian bowlers conceded heavily but Mohammad Shami with three wickets was the standout bowler for the visitors. Yuzvendra Chahal conceded 89 runs from his 10 overs, the most for an Indian spinner in a single ODI innings!
India's top order looked flat at the start of this steep chase as they lost four wickets in a hurry - from 53/0 in 5.1 overs to 101/4 in 13.3 overs. At that stage, the chase looked highly unlikely but Shikhar Dhawan (74 off 86) and Hardik Pandya (90 off 86) added 128 runs for the fifth wicket to give India little hope during the chase.
But with the wickets of Dhawan (35th over) and Hardik (39th over), the hope is all but finished in the Indian dug-out. Later, the lower-middle order helped India get past the 300-run mark to avoid a massive defeat. In the end, India managed to score just 308/8 in 50 overs conceding Australia a comfortable 66-run victory.
Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the Aussie bowlers with a 3-wicket haul and Adam Zampa managed to pick up 4 wickets in the latter half of the chase. Marcus Stoinis conceded just 25 runs from his 6.2 overs before walking off the field with an injury. Australia would hope the injury was not too series as they would not want some serious injury to their premium all-rounder in just the first match of the home season.
Steven Smith bagged the 'Player of the Match' award for his 62-ball century with the bat. With this 66-run victory, Australia have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. The second match of the ODI series will be played at the same venue on Sunday (Nov 29).
Brief Scores: Australia - 374/6 in 50 overs (Aaron Finch - 114, Steven Smith - 105, Mohammad Shami - 3/59, Jasprit Bumrah - 1/73) defeated India - 308/8 in 50 overs (Hardik Pandya - 90, Shikhar Dhawan - 74, Adam Zampa - 4/54, Josh Hazlewood - 3/55) by a margin of 66 runs
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