Daijiworld Media Network

Pune, Oct 13: India's 8-match winning streak has come to an end as well. Australia have taken the first gentle step towards regaining the No. 1 ranking. They need to beat India by a 5-2 margin to dethrone the hosts. With this win, Aus become the ONLY team to have won more ODIs than lost against India in India in the last 5 years. (5 wins, 4 losses)

A comfortable win in the end for Australia. India were off to a bad start losing Dhawan very early. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, all started well but failed to convert it into bigger knocks. Dhoni failed for once and the lower order capitulated in the face of the mounting run-rate. Johnson was fiery in every spell and was probably the best bowler for the visitors. He was helped along very
well by the rest of the bowlers as Australia take a 1-0 lead in the 7-match series.

Australian captain Bailey who is also Man of the Match said during presentation ceremoney 'It was a fantastic all-round performance. We talked about our plans, and executed it very well. Mitchell has been really impressive, he gives us a great lift at the start of the innings. Getting to 300 was important. We got an excellent start thanks to Hughes and Finch. Almost everyone chipped in later. Our plan was to get 300, and we managed to get there. It is always important to start well in a long series. It is vital for everyone to contribute for the success of a team.'

Indian captain, Dhoni said 'I thought we conceded too many runs. We had some good partnerships, but failed to convert them into bigger stands. I was a bit disappointed with some of the shot selections. There was some help for the bowlers, but we gave away too many runs. It was slightly more difficult under the lights. Our pacers are not all that fast compared to them. It was a hit the deck sort of a surface, but we could have won had our shot selection been better. We lost too many wickets in the middle overs. It is a long series and will look to get back well in the next match.'

India have tasted defeat after a while in the ODI format. Will this gear them up for the next game or will Australia continue to boss around? Do join us on the 16th to find it out.