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Australia’s form slump in the lead-up to the World Cup has continued with a five-wicket loss to India in the first one-day international at Mohali.
After paceman Mohammed Shami’s career-best 5-51 restricted Australia to 276, India raised victory with eight balls to spare at Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium on Friday (Saturday AEST) to roar back to the top of the world rankings.
Openers Shubman Gill (74) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (71) laid a wonderful platform before acting captain KL Rahul (58no) finished the tourists off by lofting Sean Abbott for a four and a six.
It was Australia’s fourth straight ODI defeat after finishing their recent tour of South Africa with three successive beltings by 100-plus runs to concede that series 3-2.
Seven Australians scored 29 or higher but none kicked on when they were set. David Warner (52), Josh Inglis (45), the returning Steve Smith (41), Marnus Labuschagne (39), Cameron Green (31) and Marcus Stoinis (29) all fell after doing the early hard yards.
“A lot of guys got starts,” said Inglis.
“If one of us goes on to get 80 or 100 and we get to 300, it makes that chase a lot more difficult there at the end.”
Shami’s career-best five-for made him chief destroyer, nicking off Mitchell Marsh (4) in the first over, bowling Smith with a magnificent in-ducker and then tearing into the lower order.
In reply, Gill and Gaikwad crunched 142 for the first wicket before a mini-collapse of 3-9 was averted by acting captain Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav (50), who added 80 for the fifth wicket.
Australia’s batting cracks will need to be ironed out quickly with the World Cup fast approaching.
“Throughout the South African series, we had really good starts,” Inglis said. “We got off to flyers in a lot of the games.
Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad run between the wickets as Marcus Stoinis looks on. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
“We spoke about building those partnerships and making them really long and give our hitters a good crack at it towards the end, rather than them having to come in at the 30th over and construct an innings.
“That’s what we do really well when we’re playing good cricket.”
Inglis pressed his own case for World Cup selection with his well-constructed knock.
With Alex Carey the likely preferred gloveman, Inglis believes he can play a role as a specialist batter.
“In the past, I have played purely as a batsman,” he said. “I quite enjoy my fielding so there’s no issue with that at all.
“I’m just trying to string some games together and put in some performances that will make them have to pick me almost.”
One bright spot was the return from an elbow injury of skipper Pat Cummins, who finished with 1-44 in his first match since the Ashes.
“I’m happy I’m back,” said Cummins, who expects pace spearhead Mitchell Starc and allrounder Glenn Maxwell to miss Sunday’s match at Indore but to be available for the third game at Rajkot next Wednesday.
“My body feels good – I used the break to freshen up and get a bit of strength in. I feel in a really good place.”
The victory moved India to the top of the ODI world rankings ahead of Pakistan as they look to retain pole position heading into a home World Cup.
With India already occupying the top spot in both the Test and T20 standings, it is only the second time in men’s cricket history that a nation has achieved the No.1 ranking across all formats, with South Africa last doing so in August 2012.
© AAP
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