KL Rahul Reveals Batting Strategy After India’s Hard-Fought Win Over Australia In 1st ODI

KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja put together an unbeaten 108 runs for the sixth wicket en route to India's five-wicket victory in Mumbai.

IND vs AUS: KL Rahul revealed that the strategy was to not go into the shell and look to play out a certain bowler, and keep on rotating the strike after India defeated Australia in a hard-fought victory in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

Chasing 189, Australia were in a disastrous position after losing four wickets with just 39 runs on board. However, it was the Rahul-Ravindra Jadeja partnership that revived India’s hopes and eventually led them to victory with 10.1 overs left.

“I was fortunate I got a couple of boundaries early on. Whoever I batted with, the talk was that there is a bit of help in the wicket, but we can’t go into our shell and look to play out a certain bowler. We wanted to run hard, we wanted to put the loose balls away,” Rahul said after the game.

#TeamIndia go 1⃣-0⃣ up in the series! 👏 👏

An unbeaten 1⃣0⃣8⃣-run partnership between @klrahul & @imjadeja as India sealed a 5⃣-wicket win over Australia in the first #INDvAUS ODI 👍 👍

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/BAvv2E8K6h @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/hq0WsRbOoC

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 17, 2023

In the end, Rahul remained unbeaten on 75 under pressure while Jadeja left the field at 45 not out. “Three wickets had gone down, and Starc was swinging the ball. He is dangerous when it is moving. I gave myself some time, not go searching for runs,” he added.

Rahul also heaped praise for Jadeja and Mohammed Shami, whose three wickets in the middle overs caused the Australia collapse. “Jaddu batted beautifully, he is in great form, and he knows what to do in those situations. When we started off, I didn’t think the pitch was going to help the bowlers that much.

“The minute Shami came back in, he did wonders. Any team that wants to win needs to pick wickets in the middle over,” added Rahul. Earlier, leading the side in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to bowl first. Mitchell Marsh gave Australia a brilliant start and top-scored with a 65-ball 81. Australia were all out for 188.

Shami finished with figures 3/17 in six his overs while Mohammed Siraj also got three wickets.