India beat Australia in the first ODI by 26 runs in a rain-curtailed match by DLS method. With 9 wickets down Australia needed 34 runs from the last over which was never going to happen.
Only Glenn Maxwell could make a mark in the Australian batting lineup. Maxwell changed the game for a while as he struck three sixes in a row off Kuldeep Yadav. He scored at a strike rate of over 200 in his innings of 39 runs from 18 balls. Marcus Stoinis sued up deliveries and got out without scoring in double digits. Mathew Wade and Pat Cummins succumbed to the pressure as they gave up. James Faulkner tried to keep the run chase alive but could not succeed as India won by a comfortable margin.
After the match, Australia captain Steven Smith blamed middle order collapse for the defeat.
“We had them at 5 for 87 and let things off a bit. The new ball was stopping and some skidded on. We lost too many wickets in the middle. We weren’t good enough and we were outplayed by India” he said during post-presentation.
