Player of the Match
Player of the Match

END OF OVER:
21 | 7 Runs | AUS: 137/9 (27 runs required, RR: 6.52)

  • Adam Zampa5 (4b)
  • James Faulkner32 (25b)
  • Jasprit Bumrah4-0-20-1
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar4-0-25-1

10.15pm After Hardik Pandya and thala MS Dhoni thrilled the Chennai crowd and revived India to 281 for 7, rain cut Australia's chase to 164 in 21 overs. Bumrah sent Cartwright's off stump cartwheeling in his second over, then took an excellent catch to dismiss Smith. Warner flickered briefly as did Maxwell and Faulkner, but Australia were all at sea against India's wristspinners. Kuldeep and Chahal claimed combined figures of 9-0-63-5. Pandya, meanwhile, followed his career-best 83 with the wickets of Smith and Head, and also introduced his knuckle ball to the world. What a day for him!

"The cricket action may be done for the day, but jump right into espn.in for more interesting reading material, including this account on Bengaluru FC's stay in North Korea last week"

"Yeah, obviously we got ourselves into a good position," Steven Smith says. "We had them at 5 for 87 and let things off a bit. MS and Hardik had a great, match-winning partnership. The new ball was stopping and some skidded on. We lost too many wickets in the middle. You can't control the weather. No complaints, we weren't good enough and we were outplayed by India. I thought Cummins and Coulter-Nile bowled very well in the new ball and hopefully they can back it up in a couple of days' time. It was a tough wicket with the new ball, and then we went away from our plans too early."

"We spoke at the toss that we wanted to put on a big score," Kohli says. "We lost wickets but MS and Kedar played well. Hardik then (played well too), MS then finished it off like he does. Today was an example, Sri Lanka was the example of how good the middle and lower order can be. The bowlers were outstanding as well. It is a matter of giving players confidence. Hardik believes in himself, and his innings was the game-changer. He possesses all three skills equally and we are lucky to have him. Chahal is very brave and doesn't say no to any situation. Bhuvi and Bumrah very clinical and our bank bowlers. After the rain, we felt this was our best T20 attack. We can't have a more perfect combination."

"It was a good day for me," Man-of-the-Match Hardik Pandya says. "A couple of catches could have helped. I don't think anything has changed. I am the same Hardik I was a year back. Maybe people's thinking was changed. To be honest, when Mahi bhai was batting with me, we knew what Zampa was going to bowl. I am glad I am doing with the bat and bowl."

That's all she wrote for today. I'll leave you with Sid Monga's report. This is Deivarayan Muthu signing off on the behalf of Varun Shetty, and thanks for tuning in

20.6
1
Bumrah to Zampa, 1 run, Bumrah nails a yorker on middle, squirted away to short fine leg. That is that. India win the series opener by 26 runs (D/L method). This is Australia's ninth successive ODI loss on the road, in completed matches
20.5
1
Bumrah to Faulkner, 1 run, dug short and outside off, another slower ball, swatted to long-on
20.4
3
Bumrah to Zampa, 3 runs, full and wide outside off, 109ks, Zampa slices it in the air, Jadhav races in from sweeper cover but the ball drops short of him
20.3
1
Bumrah to Faulkner, 1 run, really, really full on off, not a perfect yorker, squeezed down to long-on. There is a mix-up between the wickets. The throw from the deep, though, hits Faulkner on his back side
20.3
1w
Bumrah to Faulkner, 1 wide, slower short ball outside off, past the wild swing, off-side wide
20.2
0
Bumrah to Faulkner, no run, Faulkner extends his hands, slashes, and edges it behind. The ball dips on Dhoni who dives forward and gloves the ball. But he isn't sure if it's a clean catch. He has a wry smile. The soft signal from umpire Erasmus is out. They go to the TV umpire. Nope, Dhoni has grassed it

Kuldeep again

4

No. of times Kuldeep has dismissed Warner across all formats, in 5 innings. He dismissed him in the Test earlier this year and in today's ODI again.

Hat-trick habit

4

No. of times Pandya has hit three consecutive sixes in International cricket this year. He did it twice v Pak in Champions Trophy, once v SL in Test and this match.

Double duck

4

No. of instances of India's No. 3 and No. 4 both getting duck out in the same ODI, including Kohli and Pandey in this match.

Kohli's second

2

No. of ducks for Kohli in ODIs this year, in 19 innings. He had not got a single duck in last 2 years (2015 & 2016) in 30 innings.

Not chasing

3

No. of times Kohli has elected to bat first from 17 times he won the toss in ODIs, including today. India had posted totals of 404 and 375 in those two games batting first.