India Beat Australia by 26 Runs (D/L Method), Lead Series 1-0: Match Highlights, As It Happened

At one stage, it looked like it was not going to be India’s day and their winning run stretching from West Indies to Sri Lanka and now here would come to an end. The score read 87/5 but MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya saw this as an opportunity to steady themselves, the innings and propel the hosts to 281 runs while opting to bat first. On one hand, Pandya struck 83 runs and Dhoni finished with 79 runs. Big hitting at the death helped India in the D/L calculation with Australia’s chase delayed by regular drizzle. At the end, Australia needed 164 runs from 30 overs. The visitors didn’t get going as they would have liked – losing wickets at regular intervals. Glenn Maxwell provided glimmer of hope with a cameo and took the task to the spinners. But in the end, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav picked up three wickets and two wickets each to take the target beyond Australia’s reach. Pandya also picked up two wickets to make his case for Man of the Match.

TEAMS: India XI: Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvender Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia XI: David Warner, Hilton Cartwright, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Nathen Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa

 

Courtesy : indianexpress