Steve Smith, George Bailey give waca-up call
Rohit’s 171* in vain as Australia chase down 309
Steve Smith and George Bailey both scored centuries as Australia cruised to a five-wicket win over India in the first one-day international here on Tuesday.
After Indian opener Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 171 to lead his country to an imposing 309/3, Australia got away to a rocky start when left arm seamer Barinder Sran removed both openers in his first three overs.
Playing on a lifeless pitch which offered nothing for the bowlers, Bailey and Smith played brilliantly to frustrate the Indian attack.
They rotated the strike throughout the innings to keep the score moving, taking quick singles and hitting boundaries when they needed to increase the pace.
Bailey reached his century before his captain, taking just 106 balls with six boundaries and two sixes.
Smith began to accelerate and followed Bailey to three figures soon after, off only 97 balls including six fours and a towering six.
Bailey eventually fell when he tried to smash another six off R. Ashwin and was caught on the boundary by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but Smith continued his incredible vein of form.
He smashed his way to 149 but with only two runs needed for victory he chipped Sran to cover where Virat Kohli claimed an easy catch, leaving James Faulkner to hit the winning run.
India must have been confident of defending their total after Sran’s impressive start.
He brilliantly caught and bowled Finch (8) in his second over, then had the dangerous Warner (5) caught at midwicket by Kohli in his third.
But the ease with which Australia chased the score down showed that India had not scored quickly enough in the middle of their innings and were at least 20 runs short of a competitive total.
Earlier Sharma and Kohli (91) shared a 207-run partnership for the second wicket.
India lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (9) in the sixth over when he top-edged an attempted pull from Josh Hazlewood straight to Mitchell Marsh at deep backward square leg.