KL Rahul fills in as wicketkeeper for 1st ODI against Australia
Team India made the most of having an extra wicket-keeping option in the playing XI as KL Rahul replaced the young Rishabh Pant to take over the responsibility behind the stumps. Meanwhile, Pant has got a concussion after being struck on his helmet while batting and is under observation at the moment.
This is Rahul's debut in an ODI as a wicketkeeper, although he has played as a wicketkeeper for Royal Challengers Bangalore. This will also prove a good opportunity for Rahul to prove his worth as a back-up option, one which on many occasions have been suggested by a few veterans.
Talking about the match, Australia won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. They struck inside the powerplays dismissing Rohit Sharma on 10 while managing to keep Shikhar Dhawan sedate. But the pair of Rahul and Dhawan tackled the pace attack of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins cautiously and stitched a valiant 121 runs for the second wicket. Dhawan scored his 28th ODI half-century en route to a 91-ball 74 while Rahul scored 47.
Australia, however, fought back picking five wickets in a space of just six overs including the dismissal of India's new No.4 batsman Virat Kohli, for the score of just 16. Adam Zampa bagged the prized wicket, for the record fourth time in ODIs.
Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja gave a glimmer of hope to India, but Australia snuck back once again. India, however, crawled past 250, courtesy a 26-run stand between Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav. India finished with 255 runs in 49.1 overs with the Aussie pacers bagging seven wickets between themselves.
