India beat Australia to win the first One Day International by 26 runs in a match that was truncated because of rain. Steve Smith, the Australian captain, has scored 8 centuries in ODIs as compared to his Indian counterpart’s 30 tons. But when it comes to Test, the balance shifts in favour of the Australian captain who leads his Indian counterpart by 3 centuries. Kohli has been in maverick form but in the first ODI against Australia, he fell prey to a wide ball from Nathan Coulter-Nile which was caught by Glenn Maxwell at the point. It was a one-handed blinder by Maxwell which threatened to be quite a serious setback for the hosts. But thanks to a good partnership between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, India were back on track as they posted a decent 281 score.
After the match, during the press conference, when the Australian skipper was asked to comment on being compared to Virat Kohli’s 30 centuries, Steve Smith said, “I think India play a lot more ODI cricket than we do. I’m not sure how many games Virat has played. He is a very good player.”
Speaking about personal accolades, Smith said,
I am not worried about personal accolades. I am here to try and win a series. The Indian team has a very good top seven and all guys are capable of scoring big runs. Our bowlers have to be on the top of their game to keep them quiet this series.
#TeamIndia win the 1st @Paytm ODI by 26 runs (DLS) #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/N7DBFSb9Kp
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 17, 2017
On the significance of the series leading up to the World Cup in England in 2019, Smith said,
We have about 30 ODI games before the World Cup. For us, it is about trying to find the right group of players to fill all slots.
India will play the second ODI vs Australia on 21st September at Kolkata.
