If Asia Cup showed glimpses of it, the first ODI between India and Australia was a full-blown feature of Men in Blue's sloppy fielding in recent times. Catches missed, silly errors in ground fielding and missing easy run-out chances was the highlight of the first innings in Mohali on Friday, September 22 during the first ODI of the three-match series.
Thankfully, the chances didn't cost much as a dropped catch by KL Rahul resulted in a stumping of Marnus Labuschagne and a missed ball helped in run out of Cameron Green but Rahul's keeping left a lot to be desired in the series opener. Before Labuschagne was eventually stumped out on R Ashwin's delivery, he survived an easy run out owing to Rahul's mistake.
The incident took place on the first ball of the 23rd over of the innings bowled by Ravindra Jadeja. Labuschagne hit a flighted delivery from Jadeja towards the covers where Suryakumar Yadav made a diving stop. However, Labuschagne committed to the run rather quickly and set off. Cameron Green wasn't interested in the run.
Labuschagne was halfway on the pitch before Surya had gathered himself and the ball and threw it towards wicketkeeper KL Rahul. The throw was wide but Rahul had enough time to run Labuschagne out as the batter was far away from the crease.
However, Rahul couldn't gather the ball properly and Labuschagne survived. However, Surya had his face covered in his hands as he was in disbelief that Rahul completely missed the ball while Jadeja, the bowlers wasn't happy with the stand-in skipper's efforts.
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Some luck, however, did go India's way as they kept taking regular wickets despite contributions from David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Inglis. But somehow, they reached a total of 276 runs and the batting line-up missing the senior pros will have a challenge on its hands.
