"We talked about playing good shots, rotating strike well": KL Rahul on partnership with Suryakumar Yadav
Sep 22, 2023
Mohali (Punjab) [India], September 22 : Following his side's five-wicket win over Australia in the first ODI, Indian skipper KL Rahul said that his partnership with Suryakumar Yadav was good and they both talked about hitting good shots and rotating the strike.
A century partnership between openers Shubman Gill-Ruturaj Gaikwad, a breakthrough half-century by Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami's five-wicket haul were the highlights of the day as India clinched a five-wicket win over Australia in the first ODI at Mohali on Friday.
"Not the first time, always happens with me. I am used to it, I love it (the captaincy). I think the intensity in the afternoon was great, after Colombo this felt like heaven at the start but it was really hot and humid. It gets tough and physically challenging, but we have all worked on our fitness and that is showing on the field. We only played five bowlers, so they had to bowl 10 overs. After Shubman got out, it was a bit tricky with the set batter out. But managed to build a good partnership with Surya, need to put myself in such challenging situations. (On partnership with Surya) We kept talking about hitting good cricket shots, rotating the strike and this is something all our batters are working on. We did not want to get bogged down, we were always on par so we wanted to take it deep," said KL in a post-match presentation.
Coming to the match, India put Australia to bat first. Knocks from David Warner (52 in 53 balls with six fours and two sixes), Josh Inglis (45 in 45 balls with three fours and two sixes), Steven Smith (41 in 60 balls) and Marnus Labuschagne (39 in 49 balls with three fours) proved to be instrumental in taking Australia to 276 in 50 overs.
Mohammed Shami (5/51) was the pick of the bowlers for India. A returning Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah got a wicket each.
In the chase of 277, an opening stand of 142 runs from Ruturaj Gaikwad (71 in 77 balls with 10 fours) and Shubman Gill (74 in 63 balls with six fours and two sixes) pretty much ended the match itself. The fifties from skipper KL Rahul (58* in 63 balls with four boundaries and a six) and Suryakumar Yadav (50 in 49 balls with five fours and a six) helped India cruise to a five-wicket win with eight balls to go.
Adam Zampa (2/57) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies.
India takes a 1-0 lead with this win in the three-match series.
Shami took home the 'Player of the Match' award for his five-wicket haul.
