India v Australia: first men’s one-day international – live | Australia cricket team

10th over: Australia 52-1 (Marsh 31, Smith 16) Shardul Thakur in attack. Smith takes a single, Marsh peeks a ball, then Marsh is in full swing. In the aiming screen for six. Drive to dead right loft. He aims more to the side of the leg the next ball, missing as he plays across the line and is hit on the pad but misses the leg stump. Marsh blocks and leaves the next couple. Good start for Australia from the first ten overs.

9th over: Australia 52-1 (Marsh 25, Smith 15) A far cry from Pandya’s stump, and that gives Smith the chance to decisively cross and dispatch the cover drive for four! Dramatic shot. A wide leg side follows, KL Rahul does well to dive. Serious movement to end the course, a few swings in the air and off the court, away from the bat as Marsh aims for a big drive.

8th over: Australia 46-1 (Marsh 25, Smith 10) Siraj continues. Aaron Finch appears in the commentary, a step in the former Australia captain’s post-game life in this format. The bumper doesn’t work this time, Marsh on top of the leg for four. Unchecked but races are the result. As before, Marsh follows up a fake shot with a real one, again smashed through cover.

7th over: Australia 37-1 (Marsh 17, Smith 9) Hardik Pandya for his first time, and Mitchell Marsh gets huge inside advantage for four. So thick that he flies through the square leg rather than behind the wicket, as he aims through the opposite side. Pandya straightens up and threatens the stump with a sewing motion. Then threatens the outer edge. Five points follow the border.

6th over: Australia 33-1 (Marsh 13, Smith 9) Seven elapse on the first three overs, 22 on the next two. Add four more! Laced by Smith through extra coverage, driving Siraj up. Then the bowler goes back to basics of rhythm: bouncer, just misses the top edge. Then the yorker, stuck back. And the short ball halfway, in the ribs where it hits Smith as he shoots. Good little salvo from Siraj. Finishes with a length ball which Smith respectfully returns.

5th over: Australia 29-1 (Marsh 13, Smith 5) More extras, leg side again from Shami and this time he clips Smith on the thigh before finding the limit. And another wide, Shami’s mistakes undoing some of his good work. He overcorrects in response to those errors, gives Smith wide on the outside, and Smith takes him to cover for four.

4th over: Australia 19-1 (Marsh 13, Smith 0) Marsh throws hands at Siraj, not a convincing shot as he slices the point behind while aiming through cover, but he gets four as he slowly rolls into the rope. More convincing next time! On the back foot to meet a shorter length, timing it perfectly through coverage for four. Then strike, on the ground. On the front foot and pumping up his workout. Three limits over after a quiet start from Marsh.

3rd over: Australia 7-1 (Marsh 1, Smith 0) Shami comes back through the wicket to the right-handed Marsh, with Smith at the non-attacking end. Races only one. The first ball to Smith is wide down. It’s the last bad delivery though, as Shami tests him around the stump. Finding holes like this tusk is a lace doily. Defeats Smith a few times, no points scored.

TICKET OFFICE! Header b Siraj 5, Australia 5-1

1st over: Australia 1-0 (Head 1, Marsh 0) A good start from Shami, the cricket following the Test series as he hits a length outside the stump, finds a rebound, and Head plays it safe for a few balls before neatly taking a single to point. Marsh gets back up but survives a thick outside gash along the floor.

Interesting teams! Two substitute captains, Pandya and Smith. Warner hasn’t recovered enough so Mitch Marsh opens. Inglis takes the gloves in front of Carey. Maxwell at seven, Stoinis at eight! Talk about deep typing. Australia goes to ten. India less, with Kuldeep a good pitcher but not much of a nine-beater. Their team more or less as expected with the three versatile six-to-eight.

Australia
Travis head
Mitchell Marsh
Steve Smith *
Marnus Labuschagne
Josh Inglis +
cameron green
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Sean Abbott
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa

India
Ichan Kishan
Shubman Gill
Virat Kohli
Suryakumar Yadav
KL Rahul +
Hardik Pandya*
Ravindra Jadeja
Shardul Thakur
Kuldeep Yadav
mohamed siraj
mohamed chami

India win the draw

If you want another indication of the importance of this series, no Australian media covers it. None. All of us who did the Test series then headed for the releases. Even the cricket.com.au contingent of the internal Cricket Australia site. They’ve been to the Caribbean and Bangladesh on the team plane during the pandemic for white ball tours, but not this. Cricbuzz and Cricinfo will have their Australian correspondents in this first game in Mumbai, but only because they had other things to settle in the same city. No one will make it to the second and third matches.

For what? Because this series was only added a few months ago and serves no purpose other than filling screen time. England players were scathing about the days they played straight after the T20 World Cup last November, and half of their reserve players preferred playing Pakistan Super League T20s to appearing in Bangladesh for England matches over the past two weeks. We are at an interesting stage in the life cycle of bilateral competitions.

If you want some preview information on the series, well, I’ve got you covered.

Preamble

Geoff Lemon