Dhoni, Pandya flatten Aussies

M S Dhoni continued to roll back the years while a young Hardik Pandya gave another exhibition of his highly-rated talent as India kicked off the limited-overs series against Australia on a victorious note here on Sunday.

Staring down the barrel at one stage after being reduced to 11/3 and then to 87/5 in the opening ODI at a semi-filled M A Chidambaram Stadium, the Indians fought back splendidly through Dhoni (79, 88b, 4x4, 2x6) and Pandya (83, 66b, 5x4, 5x6) to post a challenging 281/7.

However, their momentum was arrested by a two and a half hour stoppage due to a steady drizzle. Very light in terms of intensity but continuous in nature, the drizzle threatened to play spoilsport to Sunday’s proceedings but finally relented a little after 8 pm.

The Australians were then set a revised target of 164 in 21 overs but the Indians came roaring back to the field to score a 26-run triumph by D/L method. Jasprit Bumrah set the ball rolling for the victory, first by uprooting the stumps of debutante Hilton Cartwright before running backwards and plucking a stunning catch to dismiss Steve Smith off Pandya.

The Aussie chase then hinged on the big-hitting duo David Warner and Glenn Maxwell. Warner, looking clueless against the spin of Kuldeep Yadav, fell victim to the chinaman bowler for scratchy 25 but Maxwell raised hopes of an Aussie comeback with some audacious hitting.

Deciding to hand the young Kuldeep a lesson, the maverick batsmen carted him for 22 runs in the 11th over as an exciting finish appeared on the cards. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3/30), who has become an important wicket-taking bowler for Virat Kohli, however culled Maxwell’s (39, 18b) plans by having him caught at long-on.

The Aussies then needed to produce something extraordinary if they had to stun India but the hosts, despite dropping a few catches, galloped home in style.

Earlier, India appeared headed to a disaster when they were reduced to 11/3, thanks to a brilliant spell of fast bowling from Nathan Coulter-Nile. Pitching the ball up consistently, the Aussie pacer first forced Ajinkya Rahane into slashing at a wide one before having skipper Virat Kohli caught for nought brilliantly by Maxwell at point. Manish Pandey also perished without troubling the scorers by committing an error similar to Rahane.

Kedar Jadhav (40, 54b, 5x4) and Rohit Sharma (28, 44b, 3x4) then kick-started the repair job, initially mixing caution with some odd moments of risk-taking before gaining confidence as the innings slowly gained stability. However, Rohit undid all the hard work as he gifted his wicket away by attempting an ill-advised hook off Marcus Stoinis to leave India again in trouble again at 64/4.

In a spot of bother

The virus then spread to Jadhav too as the diminutive right-hander hit the self-destruct button by trying to pull Stoinis. With half the side gone for just 87 runs in 21.3 overs, India looked in extreme danger of being bowled out for a mediocre score but Dhoni and Pandya scripted a superb turnaround.

Seasoned Dhoni was his usual self, restricting himself to just singles and twos, showing no intention at all to play the big one. In fact, he chained himself so badly owing to the situation India were in, he scored his first boundary off the 67th ball he faced!

Pandya though batted like he was completely oblivious to the situation.

He looked to dominate the Aussie attack from the word go, hardly showing any nerves whatsoever. He responded well to the quick calls of Dhoni and used the long handle to good effect as well. Dhoni and Pandya’s knocks, totally contrasting in nature, and some fine hitting from Bhuvneshwar Kumar later on powered India eventually to a winning total.

DH News Service