Following the 2-1 Border-Gavaskar series victory, Men in Blue are off to their ODI assignment against Australia which kicked off on March 17 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Hardik Pandya is leading India's pack in the three-match ODI series opener in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma. Hardik elected to field first after winning the toss and his decision proved right for the Men in Blue. Riding on Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj's top-notch bowling India reduced Australia to just 188. But Australia didn't surrender their as they made a good comeback to send India in jitters with flurry of wickets in the first 10 overs, thanks to Mitchell Starc's fiery spell.
Starc gave Australia the start they wanted. After Marcus Stoinis dismissed Ishan Kishan on the score of three in the very second over, Starc rocked Indian camp in the fifth over. Starc, who was breathing fire with his tearaway bowling, left the entire Wankhede Stadium's crowd stunned with back-to-back wickets of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav in the fifth over.
Mitchell trapped Kohli in front of the stumps and the star batter didn't even referred for the review and straight away took the longest walk towards pavilion after falling for a cheap 4 off 9. Notably, Starc had never gotten the better of Kohli in ODIs earlier.
Watch Virat Kohli's dismissal here..
Post dismissing Kohli for a paltry score, Starc came back to hand India another jolt in the form of Suryakumar who walked in at no. 4. In the very next ball, Starc bowled a good-length ball which hit the pads of Suryakumar. However umpire didn't declare it out thinking the ball missed the stumps. But Australia skipper Steve Smith looked unconvinced and referred called for a review which turned out in visitors' favour and Surya had to return back to the hut after recording a golden duck.
Watch Suryakumar's dismissal here..
However, India rode on KL Rahul's exceptional 75 off 91 to win the match by five wickets. Ravindra Jadeja too chipped in with crucial 45 off 69 and India chased down the target with 61 balls to spare.
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