Australia’s one-day tour of India, led by Steve Smith, will kick off in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on March 17 with the first ODI.
Pat Cummins’ mother passed away during the fourth Test match in Ahmedabad, India. After the second Test in Delhi, he returned to Australia to care for his mother. After Smith took over as captain, Australia showed up to the field looking like a new team.
The tourists showed they were more than pushovers by winning the third Test in Indore and drawing the fourth Test in Ahmedabad. Smith’s reputation has taken a hit after the Sandpapergate incident, but he has proven to be a very aggressive captain, which makes this ODI series all the more compelling.
The 2017 ODI in Nagpur was the last time Steve Smith captained Australia in India. India was notoriously difficult to defeat in one-day internationals at that time, and doing it in India was even more difficult. Australia had an excellent squad then but lost the series 4-1.
In batting first in Nagpur, Australia’s first-wicket partnership of David Warner and Aaron Finch was promising, yielding 66 runs. Then, all-rounder Hardik Pandya got the big break he needed by taking out Finch. Slow bowlers Axar Patel & Kedar Jadhav gave India control in the middle overs, and Australia kept losing wickets regularly.
Despite contributions from Travis Head (42) and Marcus Stoinis (46), the tourists managed only 242/9 off of 50 overs. If they wanted to keep themselves in the game, they needed early wickets in the second innings, but Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma ensured that didn’t happen.
Together, they scored 124 runs for the first wicket, which was the difference between reaching and falling short of the objective. In contrast to Rahane, who scored 61 runs before being removed, Rohit slammed another ODI hundred, reaching 125 runs in 109 balls. The Indian team won the series 4-1 thanks to solid performances by Jadhav and Manish Pandey and a cameo from Virat Kohli (39 runs).
Australia’s recent success in the Test arena should give the team confidence heading into the next One-Day International series. Australia won the last one-day International (ODI) between these two teams in Mumbai by a score of 10 wickets, as Steve Smith will be well aware. That could motivate them to play their best on Friday and seize a commanding 1-0 series lead.
