Australia’s Smith, Bailey chase down Indian total in 1st ODI

Bailey scored 112 off 120 balls as he hit 2 sixes and 7 fours whereas Smith hit 11 fours and 2 sixes as he scored 149 off 135 balls and Australia reached target with 4 balls to spare.

Bailey, who struck the ball crisply to all parts of the ground, said he felt a little underwhelmed in the middle but had complete admiration for Smith’s insatiable appetite for runs across different formats.

Indian ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday said the forthcoming series against Australia will be a “learning curve” for the youngsters in the side, adding that it would test the senior players of the team as well. Rohit Sharma and Tillakaratne Dilshan have registered two such innings. Rohit then broke Kohli’s record of highest individual total at WACA for an Indian against Australia, of 77 runs and then soon became the first Indian to score an ODI century at Perth.

Australia opener David Warner, who made five on Tuesday, will miss the second and third ODIs as his wife Candice is expecting their second child.

George Bailey and Steve Smith then got together and slowly re-built the innings for Australia. TV replays clearly showed that the batsman had gloved the ball, but with India’s apathy towards the DRS, Bailey escaped.

He built his innings steadily, bringing up his 50 from 63 balls, his century from 122 and his 150 from 155, mixing quick singles with some powerful boundary hitting. Especially disappointing were India’s spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin (2/68 in 9 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (0/61 in 9 overs) looked far from penetrative. Apart from the disciplined Josh Hazlewood, the other bowlers took quite a beating as India continue to amass runs at will. Rohit soon got to his fourth century against Australia and India were suddenly on the front foot.

If Bailey had been given out, the Australians would have been reeling at 3-21. “(Defending) 310 is a lot of runs on any wicket in the world”. It started off well for India with newcomer Barinder Sran picking up two early wickets and reducing Australia to 21/2.

George Bailey believes the wicket at the WACA should suit the faster bowlers.

Te Australians were sent on a leather hunt courtesy Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, as they posted scores of 91 and 171* respectively.

The visiting team will need to win at least a game in the series to retain their current second position in the ICC ODI Team Championships.

India and Australia return to the ground they enjoyed playing in, during the World Cup.