Kedar and Dhoni are heroes again as India lead Australia 1-0

By Kersi Meher-Homji

Australia had started their tour of India promisingly by winning both the thrilling T20 Internationals in the last over.

But in the first One Day International (ODI) at Hyderabad last night (March 2) India defeated Australia by six wickets to lead the five match series 1-0.

This match was almost a mirror image of India’s victory against Australia at Melbourne on 18 January.

MS Dhoni had started slowly in Melbourne in mid-January, refusing to accelerate till the last three overs. With Kedar Jadhav (61 not out with seven fours) as his partner, Dhoni (87 not out with six fours) had added 121 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket and India had won the Melbourne ODI by seven wickets with four balls remaining and the ODI series 2-1.

Last night in Hyderabad it was the same scenario. Call it a carbon copy match. In reply to Australia’s 7 for 236 (Usman Khawaja 50, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav taking two wickets each) India was tottering at 4 for 99.

At that stage Kedar Jadhav joined Dhoni and progressed slowly but accelerated as they approached the target. They added 141 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket as India triumphed by six wickets with 10 balls in hand. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 59 with six fours and a six and Kedar an unbeaten 81 with nine fours and one six.

Kedar was the unanimous choice as the Man of the Match in Hyderabad.

The second ODI will be played at Nagpur on Tuesday, March 5. The five-ODI series ends at Delhi on March 13.

More sleepless nights for cricket lovers in Australia!

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