India vs Australia, 1st ODI: KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja guide India to nervy win in opener | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Mid-Level Indian Batter KL Rahul hit a gritty half-century and elevated a century-long unbeaten stand with the versatile Ravindra Jadeja to guide India to a nervy five-wicket win over Australia in the ODI series opener in Mumbai on Friday .
India were in shock at 39 for 4 chasing 189 when Rahul came in and played a solid hand, sailing India out of trouble with a few decisive skipper partnerships Hardik Pandya and Jadeja.

Rahul, who recently came under fire for his horrendous Test run and was even dropped from the playing XI in the third and fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy games, hit an unbeaten 75 of 91 balls, leading India to victory in the 40th over.

Earlier, Indian bowlers, complemented by excellent catchers, beat Australia for 188 inside 36 overs at Wankhede Stadium.
Mitchell Marsh, back in international cricket after ankle surgery, broke 81 of 65 balls but his outing sparked a meltdown.
With India regular captain Rohit Sharma absent due to family commitments, Hardik Pandya won the draw and opted to play at Wankhede Stadium.
At the second, India had drawn first blood.
Travis Head, who made it five, charged in for Mohammed Siraj but ended up deflecting the ball off his stumps.
Marsh steadied the ship with a 72-point stand with Steve Smith, who leads Australia in the absence of Pat Cummins who remained in Sydney following the death of his mother.
David Warner also missed the game through injury, although Australia expect the fly-half to play in the next two ODIs.
Smith made it 22 before Pandya pulled him out caught behind.
Marsh, on his first shot as ODI opener, hit 10 fours and five sixes and Australia looked quite comfortable at 129-2 in the 20th before the wheels came out of their innings.
Jadeja cleared Marsh and took a superb hold to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne (15) before Mohammed Shami’s triple strike derailed Australia.
Josh Inglish (26), replacing an ailing Alex Carey as wicketkeeper, dragged the ball over his stumps, Cameron Green (12) had his stump uprooted and Marcus Stoinis (5) perished in the slippage.

Glenn Maxwell made it eight in his return from a broken leg and Mohammed Siraj (3-29) brushed off scoreless Sean Abbott and Adam Zampa in successive overs as Australia fell 35.4 overs .
India’s start was even worse and their front four were back in the hut inside 11 overs after Mitchell Starc (3-49) hit three, including Virat Kohli’s valuable wicket, which in managed four.
Rahul added 44 runs with Pandya to stop the slide and killed the contest with his collaboration with Jadeja (108 run partnership), which did not come out on 45, which included the winning limit.

The second match is scheduled in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, while Chennai hosts the ODI final on Wednesday.

India won the previous four-Test series 2-1.
(With contributions from Reuters)