Jhye Richardson (centre) was awarded man-of-the-match for his 4/26 off 10 overs
Australia ODI captain Aaron Finch was all praise for his young pacers Jhye Richardson and Jason Behrendorff after their performances in the first ODI of the three-match series against India in Sydney.
Riding on Richardson's 4/26 and Behrendorff's 2/39, Australia managed to peg India back early and that helped them control the game despite a 137-run fourth wicket stand between Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"Jhye and Jason are full of confidence, they have great skill sets and both have a good future ahead of them," said Finch at the post-match presentation ceremony after his team's 34-run win.
Richardson got the prized wicket of Virat Kohli early on in the fourth over of the chase while Behrendorff removed Shikhar Dhawan early on and came back to get the crucial wicket of Dhoni just as the former captain was looking to up the ante.
And Finch was very pleased with the effort.
"Yeah, very pleased with the performance. I think the way they rebuilt, Rohit and MS, we knew they will take it deep and we managed to pick up the wickets at the right time," Finch said.
The 32-year-old also pleaed with the batting efforts as Peter Handscomb (73), Usman Khawaja (59) and Shaun Marsh (54) guided the hosts to a par total of 288/5 from their 50 overs.
"I thought we got a par total, the partnership between Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh was very good in the middle overs and Peter played a gem. In the middle period we played really well. We didn't score a lot of runs in the middle overs but we saved the wickets for the final overs.
"We have powers hitters like Maxi and Stoinis at number 6 and 7," Finch said.
The 22-year-old Richardson was also very pleased with his efforts and especially with the prized scalp of Kohli.
"I am very happy to get (Kohli's) wicket, I'll treasure it for a while but more than that, I'm happy with the win. As a bowling unit, we are clear about our plans, doing our homework and research, being professional out there," Richardson said after being awarded the man-of-the-match for his 4/26 off 10 overs.
With the hosts 1-0 up in three-match series, they will have the chance to close down the series with one game to play when the two sides next meet at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
