Steve Smith played a captain's knock as Australia won the first ODI against India by five wickets at Perth. Smith was dismissed one short of 150, in first ball of the last over, with two runs needed for the home team to win. James Faulkner scored the winning runs for Australia.
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George Bailey and Smith steadied Australia's innings and batted without taking any undue risks and stuck to rotating the strike till they completed their centuries. Bailey and Smith put up 242 --the highest third wicket partnership for Australia in ODIs. Both the partnerships came against India. This is also the fourth highest stand for Australia in ODIs.
Boundaries came aplenty for Australia as Smith smashed 11 fours and two sixes while Bailey accounted for seven fours and two sixes. The latter now has the highest average against India in ODIs among those with a minimum of 500 international runs.
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Bailey survived an early scare when he gloved the ball to Dhoni and was given not out. However, the lack of DRS meant the umpire's call stood.
After his dismissal, Bailey said: "It would have been interesting had it gone upstairs. However, we are not the team who does not want it (DRS)."
Ravichandran Ashwin broke the Smith-Bailey partnership after the latter holed on a catch to Bhuvneshwar Kumar at long off. Ashwin quickly followed with another wicket when Glenn Maxwell's lofted drive found Shikhar Dhawan.
India used seven bowlers including Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, desperately trying to get a breakthrough.
Sran picked up two wickets on debut after removing the openers. First, Sran caught Aaron Finch off his own bowling. He picked the second one when David Warner was caught by Virat Kohli.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma's unbeaten 171 (off 163 balls) and Virat Kohli's 91 guided India to a challenging total. This is India's highest total Down Under. The previous highest was 303 for four at Brisbane in 2004, in which the visitors won.
While Rohit carried his bat, Kohli fell short of his century after being dismissed for 91 by Faulkner when he tried to hit a big shot over long on. He was snapped by Aaron Finch. Kohli smashed nine fours and one six.
Earlier in the day, he brought his 19th ODI fifty outside India in style with a maximum over long leg. It was his 35th ODI fifty. Along with Sharma, Kohli steadied the innings for India after losing Shikhar Dhawan for nine. Josh Hazlewood picked up the wicket of Dhawan when he tried to hook a short ball. He was caught by Mitchell Marsh at long leg.
Rohit Sharma now has four 150 plus scores in ODIs. Only Sachin Tendulkar has more with five to his name. Chris Gayle and Sanath Jayasuriya have four.
Sharma and Kohli were involved in the highest second-wicket partnership by an Indian pair against Australia. They scored 207 off 37.5 overs, of which Kohli scored 91 and Rohit scored 112. They also crossed the previous highest second-wicket partnership for India in Australia. They overtook Dhawan and Kohli's record of 129 against Pakistan, which came in February during the ICC World Cup 2015.
The previous highest second-wicket partnership against Australia by an Indian pair was by Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar's 199 in Indore on March 31, 2001.
Rohit continued to wreak havoc on the Australian bowlers as he completed 150. There was no stopping him once he crossed the 100-mark. He completed his ninth ODI hundred and third in Australia. Till then, Rohit played a steady innings, not going for the big shots. Interestingly, no other Indian batsman has more centuries than him in Australia. V. V. S. Laxman is the only other Indian to score three tons.
At present, Rohit has the highest average against Australia in ODIs, with players scoring minimum 500 internationals runs.
Australian skipper Steve Smith used six bowlers in total with Glenn Maxwell the only spinner in the side. Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Faulkner were the only bowlers to complete their quota of 10 overs. Hazlewood picked up one wicket and was the most economical bowler in the side.
Teams:
Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith (captain), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Jamie Faulkner, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood, Joel Paris.
India: M. S. Dhoni (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran.
Umpires: Simon Fry (AUS), Richard Kettleboough (NZL).
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