Australia 8-304 (George Bailey 85, Aaron Finch 72, Yuvraj Singh 2-34) beat India 232 (Virat Kohli 61, Rohit Sharma 42, James Faulkner 3-47, Shane Watson 2-31) by 72 runs.
The Australian skipper, George Bailey, led his side from the front with a spicy knock and the visiting seamers drowned the formidable Indian batting at Pune.
The Kangaroos hammered 304 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the allotted 50 overs and the Blue Shirts were bowled out for 232 with two balls still remaining.
George Bailey (Australia) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his superb innings of 85 off 82 balls.
The first One Day International of the seven match series was held on Sunday, October 13, 2013, at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
Earlier, George Bailey won the toss for the Aussies and opted to bat first whereas Phillip Hughes and Aaron Finch got off slowly by scoring 14 runs in six overs. Finch hit 14 runs in the next over with 1 six and 2 fours and Hughes got 2 boundaries in the 8th one. The run rate was picked up by the two batsmen and they added 1 six and 8 fours in the coming overs. Aaron Finch attained his first ODI fifty in the 18th over with another four and the score went past the hundred runs mark as well. The first wicket fell at 110 in 18.2 overs when Phillip Hughes was gone for 47.
Shane Watson became the next victim after scoring just two runs as George Bailey walked in the park. The run rate went down a bit and the batsmen crept to 146 when Aaron finch was caught by Virat Kohli at long off at the bowling of Yuvraj Singh for 72 from 79 with 3 lofty sixes and 8 fours. The middle order batting revolved around Bailey who was scoring most of the runs with regular boundaries. He dispatched his 9th ODI half century in the 37th over and kept on cruising briskly with a little assistance at the other end. George Bailey was caught by Suresh Raina off Ravichandran Ashwin for 85 from 82 deliveries with 10 fours. Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner contributed 31 and 27 runs respectively as the Kangaroos smashed 8-304 in 50 overs.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh were the top wicket takers with two each whereas Vinay Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja shared one wicket each.
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma opened the innings for the home side against the fierce fast bowling from the rival bowlers. They scored 26 runs in 6.2 overs when the first surrendered for just seven runs and was replaced by Virat Kohli. Sharma hit 3 fours in the 9th over and the pair accumulated 12 runs two overs later with two boundaries. The score was taken to 66 as Rohit Sharma was caught by Hughes off Shane Watson for 42 from 47 with 6 fours. Suresh Raina appeared in the park next and got his first boundary on the 17th delivery he faced while Kohli hit two successive fours in the 22nd one.
The third wicket association was broken at 137 in 27.2 overs when Raina was sent back to the pavilion for 39 runs. Yuvraj Singh remained unimpressive and scored seven while the middle order batting could not read the rival bowling accordingly. Virat Kohli reached his 25th ODI fifty in the 30th over and was declared leg before wicket off Watson for 61 from 85 balls with 6 fours. MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were the only other notable batsmen with 19 and 18 runs as the entire innings of the home team was squeezed for 232 in 49.4 overs.
James Faulkner was the top wicket taker with three, Clint McKay and Shane Watson secured two each whereas Mitchell Johnson, Adam Voges and Aaron Finch held one wicket each.
Australia clinched the first One Day International against India with a big margin of 72 runs and leads the seven match series 1-0. The second game will be played on October 16, 2013, at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
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