First innings report: India restricts Australia to 295

Shami Ahmed

Put into bat by India expecting dew to play its part, Australia managed to score 295/8 in the 4^th ODI played in Ranchi at the JSCA International Stadium Complex, thus making it the 2^nd ever ODI to played at the venue. The match started with clouds covering above the dark sky expecting a shower as soon as possible. The selection of Jaydev Unaked and Shami Ahmed in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant was not a baffling decision but a tricky decision taken in by the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Unaked started the proceeding by bowling a tight 1^st over giving just a single run off the blade of Aaron Finch in the penultimate delivery. In 12 ODI internationals, Shami Ahmed gave the initial breakthrough for India by bowling a back of length delivery, which targeted the stumps behind Aaron Finch who seemed to look in good touch as he hit a boundary on the very same over and he was completely beaten by the pace of 140 km/hr. Following Finch, Philip Hughes was too dismissed in a same fashion but this time the batsman hung his bat in the air as he had no clue and the ball edging his bat to reach to Dhoni’s gloves as he caught it handsomely.

After these two quick wickets, the onus of building a big target fell on the shoulders of Shane Watson and the Aussie skipper George Bailey. Once both of them started to think of building a partnership rain interrupted the game and Bailey too received a initial reprieve as Virat Kohli unnecessarily dived for catching a ball that was out of his reach. After rain died out, Shami came in hard to take back Shane Watson who missed the delivery completely as it dislodged his off stump. After having lost 3 wickets, Bailey decided to go after Vinay Kumar to unsettle the bowler as he hammered two boundaries and a six.

Ravichandran Ashwin removed Ashley Voges when the batsman failed to read a quicker delivery thus being trapped in front of leg stump. Thus, Glenn Maxwell and Bailey sneaked ones twos and further consolidating the scores with occasional boundaries and sixes finally managing to set a record partnership of 153 runs for fifth wicket for Australia against India in Limited overs cricket. Once Vinay Kumar was brought back in the 38^th over, he proved his worth of bowling good in death overs by bowling a short delivery of 124 kph and making Bailey to edge the ball resulting in a fine catch by Rohit Sharma at deep mid wicket as the batsman missed his century. Birthday Boy Brad Haddin fell in the very next over bowled by Jadeja as Haddin misjudge it completely to be castled. Maxwell who looked in great touch failed to score a century just like Brad Haddin as he fell LBW to an excellent delivery of Vinay Kumar. After these quick wickets, the run rate for Aussies dropped as they couldn’t expect big runs in the overs bowled by part timer Raina who was used for the first time in the series was given more overs than that of Yuvraj Singh who bowled a disaster first over giving away 12 odd runs. Among the tailenders, Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner tried to build a partnership but Ashwin fired a quick delivery to Johnson who advanced down the track only to be stumped by Dhoni leaving Australia at 278/7. Along with Faulkner who scored 23, Clint Mckay remained unbeaten on 7 thus Australia scored 295/8 leaving India to get a target of 296 for victory.