Kedar Jadhav scored a brilliant 81 as India beat Australia comfortably by 6 wickets in the first one day international at Hyderabad on Saturday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the visitors started disastrously as they lost out of form skipper Aaron Finch cheaply to Jasprit Bumrah.
Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis added 87 runs for the second wicket, albeit very slowly, before Jadhav broke through by claiming the wicket of Stoinis, who was caught by Indian skipper Virat Kohli for 37 off 53 balls.
Khawaja was dismissed after reaching his half century, with an excellent catch from Vijay Shankar sending the Australian opener back in the 24th over.
Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell put on 36 run stand for the fourth wicket, before the former became Kuldeep’s second victim, stumped by Dhoni
Ashton Turner on debut, looked solid in his short stay at the wicket before Shami produced a telling double blow, getting rid of the Scorchers star and the well set Glen Maxwell in successive overs as Australia slumped to 173/6.
Maxwell had got a reprieve on 6 when Rohit dropped a catch at slip off Bumrah, but fortunately for India, the drop wasn’t too expensive as the Victorian all rounder departed for 40.
Nathan Coulter-Nile and Alex Carey added a valuable stand of 62 runs to take Australia to 236 for 7 in their allotted 50 overs.
Shami, Bumrah and Kuldeep bagged 2 wickets each, while the duo of Jadhav and Ravi Jadeja bowled economically, going for just 64 in their 17 overs.
Chasing 237 to win, the home side lost Shikhar Dhawan early for a duck. The pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli steadied the innings by adding 76 runs for the second wicket, before Zampa claimed the prize scalp of Kohli, dismissed leg before wicket on a review, for 44.
The hosts then lost vice captain Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu in succession as Australia reduced them to 99/4. However the asking rate was always in control, and the pair of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Jadhav anchored the innings by adding 141 runs for the 5th wicket. India reached the target of 237 in 48.4 overs to go 1-0 up in the five match series.
Coulter-Nile and Zampa claimed 2 wickets each. The 33 year old Jadhav was declared the player of the match for his superb all round performance- 81 with the bat, and 1/31 in 7 overs with the ball.
The second one day international between India and Australia would be played at Nagpur on March 5.