Australia whitewash India, wins Hockey series 5-0
However, despite the visitors’ determined efforts, Australia succeeded in preventing India from levelling the score, ultimately securing a thrilling 3-2 victory in the match.
Riding on centuries from openers David Warner (128*) and Aaron Finch (110*) on Tuesday, Australia outplayed India by 10 wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Warner was declared the Player of the Match for his impressive knock that came off 112 balls, including 17 fours and 3 sixes.
Chasing a mediocre target of 256 runs, Australia reached home without losing a wicket.
Advertisement
Earlier, skipper Aaron Finch had won the toss and had decided to bowl. The Australian bowlers proved the captain right by bundling out the Men in Blue for 255 runs in 49. 1 overs.
Mitchell Starc ran through the spine of Indian batting lineup, returning figures of 3 for 56 in 10 overs. Meanwhile, Pat Cummins and Kane Richardson conceded 44 and 43 runs, respectively, with 2 wickets apiece. Adam Zampa finished his 10 overs with the figures of 1 for 53, whereas another Australian spinner Ashton Agar returned figures of 1 for 56.
Things hardly went India’s way as skipper Virat Kohli chose to make a change in the batting lineup by giving KL Rahul the coveted number 3 position.
Though India lost Rohit Sharma when they were only 13, a 121-run stand between Shikhar Dhawan (74 off 91) and KL Rahul (47 off 61) did set things up for the hosts. But Australia didn’t allow the duo to capitalise and once the stand was broken, India tumbled and could score only 255 runs before succumbing to a disciplined Australian bowling attack.
However, the runs were never enough for a team like Australia and their openers made it a cakewalk by chasing the target with 74 balls to spare.
Notably, after a string of good performances in Tests for Australia, Marnus Labuschagne made his debut in the white-ball format, but didn’t get to bat.
Brief scores: India 255 all out in 49.1 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 74, KL Rahul 47; Mitchell Starc 3/56) vs Australia 258/0 (David Warner 128, Aaron Finch 110; Ravindra Jadeja 0/41)
Advertisement
