India vs. Australia, first One Day International, 2023: Talking Points and Who Said What?

At the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Friday, September 22, India vs. Australia India defeated Australia by five wickets in the opening One-Day International of the three-match series.

KL Rahul, the captain, invited Australia to bat first after winning the toss, and his bowlers successfully bowled them out for a score of 276—below average. With his 5/51 in ten overs, Mohammed Shami was the bowler of choice for Men in Blue.

In response, India got off to a fast start with 142 runs added for the first wicket by the opening pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill. Following their dismissals, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav’s 80-run stand helped the team win. India achieved the target in 48.4 overs, winning the game by a margin of five wickets.

The following are the match’s talking points:

 Fer by Mohammed Shami

The right-arm seamer was chosen for the starting XI instead of Mohammed Siraj, who was in excellent form. Mitchell Marsh was out in the first over itself thanks to Shami, who seized the chance and gave India a terrific start. To clinch his second five-wicket haul, he also took Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Short, and Sean Abbott out of the game.

Ruturaj Gaikwad first fifty in an ODI

Gaikwad had a fantastic chance to start his team’s batting because skipper Rohit Sharma was resting. The 26-year-old didn’t let it go to waste, smashing 71 off 77 balls with the help of ten fours to record his first ODI fifty. Gaikwad and Shubman Gill contributed to an enormous opening stand of 142 runs off 130 balls (74 runs off 63).

The crucial fifty votes for Suryakumar Yadav

Coming into the ODI series, the flamboyant hitter was under enormous pressure to score since people were debating whether he belonged in the ODI team. But SKY rose to the occasion, scoring a magnificent fifty (50 off 49) and putting together a vital 80-run partnership with captain KL Rahul. His confidence will benefit from the knock going into the World Cup.

Winning Captain, KL Rahul, India said:

(On captaincy) Not the first time, always happens with me. I’m used to it, I love it. I think the intensity in the afternoon was great, after Colombo this felt like heaven in the start but it was really hot and humid. It gets tough and physically challenging, but we’ve all worked on our fitness and that’s showing on the field. We only played five bowlers, so they had to bowl 10 overs.

After Shubman got out, it was a bit tricky with the set batter out. But managed to build a good partnership with Surya, need to put myself in such challenging situations. (On partnership with Surya) We kept talking about hitting good cricket shots, rotating the strike and this is something all our batters are working on. We didn’t want to get bogged down, we were always on par so we wanted to take it deep.

Losing Captain, Pat Cummins, Australia said:

Personally, happy to be back. Good to get my first game in India. A few guys batted well, few guys bowled well but overall not good enough. (On injuries) They’d probably not be ready for the second game, maybe the third game. Maxi has just arrived in India. Smith’s first hit as well, and Davey was brilliant. Good to see them out there together. We’ve got one eye on the big tournament, but you want to set the standards early and build a good rhythm.

Player of the Match, Mohammed Shami said:

(On bowling longer spells in the heat) It depends on the captain and the game situation, but despite the heat you feel like bowling 4-5 overs with the new ball. I enjoyed the wicket of Marsh, that’s a different feeling when you get the outside edge, when you control your swing nicely. It was important to hit the right lengths on this wicket, either at full pace or go slow, but bowling the right lengths were key. (On bowling with the other pacers) We’ve played together for a long time, so we know what needs to be done. Always enjoy when we bowl well in tandem like this.