Finally, it happened, just like getting a letter from someone you love after waiting for a long time. One of the best things for India in their five-wicket win against Australia in the first ODI in Mohali was Suryakumar Yadav scoring runs before the World Cup. He made 50 runs, which is his highest score in 20 ODI innings. This helped India a lot because they were struggling when they lost four wickets for just 43 runs during the middle part of the game.

It was a relief to see Suryakumar Yadav perform well again. In the absence of Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami took five wickets in the second ODI. He did well, getting his career-best figures of 5 wickets for 51 runs, and even three of those wickets came in his last nine deliveries.

KL Rahul’s match-winning captain knock (unbeaten 58)

Apart from that, KL Rahul, who is currently the temporary captain, is gradually getting back into international cricket. He scored an unbeaten 58 runs, which is his third good performance in four innings since returning from injury. Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav together added 60 runs to India’s score just when it seemed like Adam Zampa was motivating the Australian team to make a comeback. Earlier, India was doing well at 142 for 0 in the 22nd over, but then they lost four wickets and were at 185 for 4 by the 33rd over.

Strong Opening Performance by Shubham Gill and Rituraj Gaikwad for Team India

Gill and Gaikwad, who were the first two batters for the team, began the chase easily. They scored 43 runs in the first seven overs. Gaikwad got lucky when he was on 17 runs because he could have been out, but he didn’t stop playing his aggressive shots. He hit a strong shot through a deep point in the same over. Out of the eight fours that the two of them hit in the initial part of the game, seven of them were in the area between backward point and cover. Gill also hit a six by pulling the ball over square leg in the fourth over with great ease.

Gill went after Matthew Short, who was playing his first ODI, and hit him for a four and a six in the 14th over. With that six, Gill completed his fifty runs in just 37 balls, continuing his excellent performance in ODIs. Gaikwad also reached his first ODI half-century, taking 60 balls to achieve this milestone.

But then, Zampa stopped the good times by getting Gaikwad out for 71 runs, and later, he bowled out Gill for 74 with a delivery that stayed low. In the middle of this, Shreyas Iyer, whose fitness and form India wanted to assess, got run out for just 3 runs because of a misunderstanding with Gill. After Gill left, Rahul came in, and he and Ishan Kishan tried to steady the innings for a little while. However, Kishan got caught behind by the wicketkeeper while attempting a shot, and he scored 18 runs. Rahul and Suryakumar then made sure that the team didn’t face any more problems and played well.

Mohammad Shami’s Brilliant Bowling Puts a Lid on Australia’s Target

In the 33rd over, something interesting happened. Marnus Labuschagne tried to play a reverse sweep off R. Ashwin, but he didn’t hit the ball properly. Instead, the ball touched KL Rahul’s leg after he missed catching it with his gloves. Surprisingly, the ball bounced off Rahul’s leg and hit the stumps. Labuschagne was out, and he had scored 39 runs. This was a very close call, and it stopped a promising partnership of 45 runs for the third wicket.

Then, in the 40th over, Cameron Green, who had scored 31 runs, played a shot to Mohammed Shami. But Rahul, the wicketkeeper, couldn’t catch the ball cleanly, and it bounced in front of him. Seeing this, Green and Josh Inglis, the other batsman, tried to run. However, they got confused, and Suryakumar Yadav, who was in the deep fielding position, threw the ball to the bowler’s end, and this led to a run-out. So, Green got out because of this mix-up, thanks to Suryakumar’s accurate throw.

Before that crucial moment, Shami had already done important work to help India win. In the first over, he got Mitchell Marsh out by having him caught at a wide slip. Shami bowled a ball that started at one angle but then moved in a different direction, catching Marsh off guard. Then, he dismissed Steven Smith by hitting the stumps with a delivery that had his signature upright seam and curved in, knocking over two stumps.

Shami played a big role in Australia’s late-game struggle, where they lost five wickets for just 28 runs. He got Marcus Stoinis out after Stoinis had scored 62 runs off 43 balls. Shami bowled a delivery that hit Stoinis’ stumps, knocking them over. Then, he got Matthew Short out by making him hit the ball to deep midwicket, where it was caught. Finally, Shami dismissed Sean Abbott by using a slower ball, and Abbott chopped the ball onto his stumps.

Out of Australia’s top seven batsmen, six of them managed to score at least 29 runs. However, only David Warner was able to score more than fifty runs in the first inning. This turned out to be a crucial difference because, in India’s innings, four out of the top six batsmen scored fifty or more runs, which helped India take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series.

-Rahul Gautam