The Indian cricket team has taken a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series by defeating Australia by 5 wickets in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium. Indian team has won at Wankhede Stadium after 12 years. This is India’s second win in ODIs at this ground against the Kangaroos. Earlier, both the teams had clashed here in 4 ODIs where the visiting team defeated India in 3 matches while India was victorious in one ODI.
India won the ODI World Cup here in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Before the victory against Australia, India last won on this ground on 23 October 2011. Then India defeated England by 6 wickets. Since then, India had played 3 ODIs here and lost in all three.
Australia defeated India by 10 wickets at this ground in January 2020. Whereas in 2017, New Zealand defeated India by 6 wickets, while in 2015, guest South Africa defeated India by 214 runs. Then Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the captain of the team.
Hardik Pandya undoubtedly took a wicket in the first ODI, but he equalled the record of former cricketer Suresh Raina. Hardik Pandya ended the drought of 9 years in terms of getting wickets as a captain in ODIs. Earlier, Suresh Raina took the wicket in ODIs for India in 2014 as captain.
Hardik Pandya got the big wicket of Kangaroo captain Steve Smith. Pandya caught Smith at the hands of wicketkeeper KL Rahul. Apart from the ball, Pandya also did wonders with the bat. He played an inning of 25 runs in 31 balls. Hardik captained the team instead of regular skipper Rohit Sharma in this match.
KL Rahul played an important role in the victory of India. Rahul kept one end in the fall of wickets and gave the team a resounding victory by playing an unbeaten 75 off 91 balls. He gave the team a memorable victory by partnering with Hardik and Ravindra Jadeja on a difficult wicket. Rahul also gave a befitting reply to his critics who were talking about leaving him out of the team.
