Picture : BCCI
A fine five-wicket haul by Mohammed Shami and wonderfully complemented by the grace and poise of Shubman Gill as India defeated Australia by five wickets in the opening ODI of the three-match series in Mohali.
Shami displayed his artistry with impressive figures of 5 for 51, reminding all and sundry of his skills while helping India restrict Australia to 276 after asking the visitors to make first use of the strip.
In reply, Gill once again stamped his authority with a 63-ball 74 and added 142 for the opening stand with the Asian Games-bound Ruturaj Gaikwad (71 off 77 balls) to set the foundation for victory, which, on paper, might have looked a bit more stretched than it actually was.
was achieved in 48.4 overs as Suryakumar Yadav (50 off 49 balls) and skipper KL Rahul (58 not out off 63 balls) also played their part with only Shreyas Iyer (3) and Ishan Kishan (18) missing out on good batting surface.
For Australia, the only bright spot was leg-spinner Adam Zampa finding some bowling form with figures of 2/57 off 10 overs.
Shami was literally unplayable in his opening spell, and then came back to remove a set Steve Smith (41 off 60 balls) in a short second stint, to disturb the visiting team’s momentum.
Stockily built wicketkeeper Jos Inglis (45 off 45 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (29 off 21 balls) added 62 runs for the sixth wicket to take Australia past the 250-run mark but it was certainly below par as Shami got Stoinis in the nick of time to put the brakes on their scoring.
Warner (52 off 53 balls), Smith and Marnus Labuschagne (39 off 49 balls) all got starts but could not carry on for big one .
