India vs Australia: India crush Australia in first ODI, Pandya heroic down visitors
The duo combined 118 runs for the sixth wicket, Pandya with a career-best knock and Dhoni slammed his 100th international half-century helped India put up a decent total but due to rain, the total was reduced to a theoretically easier 164 in 21 overs.
Hardik Pandya played with great maturity, producing a scintillating all-around performance while Mahendra Singh Dhoni also slammed a well-calculated half-century as India defeated Australia by 26 runs in a rain-effect match at Chepauk Stadium on Sunday.
With the compressive victory, the Men in Blue has taken a 1-0 lead in the 5-match ODI series. India batting first struggled to get things going, they were 87 for 5 but Pandya’s sensational six-hitting combined with Dhoni pragmatism lifted India to 281.
The duo combined 118 runs for the sixth wicket, Pandya with a career-best knock and Dhoni slammed his 100th international half-century helped India put up a decent total but due to rain, the total was reduced to a theoretically easier 164 in 21 overs.
Chasing the target, Australian openers didn't get into their groove and early pressure paid off as the Aussies lost wickets in quick succession and the World Champions were all out in 137. Only Maxwell tasted reasonable success, hitting Kuldeep for three successive sixes, but by then his team-mates had left him no room for error.
Brief Scores: India 281/7 in 50 overs (Hardik Pandya 83, MS Dhoni 79; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3-44, Marcus Stoinis 2-54) beat Australia 137/9 in 21 overs (Glenn Maxwell 39, James Faulkner 32*; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-30, Hardik Pandya 2-28, Kuldeep Yadav 2-33) by 26 runs (DLS method).