Poor bowling costs Team India opening ODI despite fearless Hardik Pandya's show

Hardik Pandya scored his career-best, but the efforts weren't good enough to grab a win against the hosts. India’s line-up flopped to a 66-run defeat against Australia, making an unimpressive start to the tour.

Virat Kohli's men started on a good note but gave away 374 runs in 50 overs. The rival captain Aaron Finch smashed 114 off 124 balls. On the other hand, Steve Smith hit the 3rd fastest century (105 off 66 balls) on Australian soil.

The pitch conditions that looked manageable during the first half suddenly came to life in the second half. Josh Hazlewood bounced out the Indian top-order as he picked up three wickets, giving away 55 runs.

Hardik Pandya becomes fastest Indian to score 1,000 ODI runs

Pandya's 76-ball 90 runs show lone did the talking for the detractors. India was still in with a chance of winning, till the point he was dismissed by Adam Zampa. The all-rounder reached achieved another feat as he became the fastest Indian to 1000 ODI runs.

Adam Zampa grabbed four wickets in 10 overs. He dismissed Dhawan and Pandya and India surrendered to the scoreboard finishing the innings at 308/8.

Pandya carried his blazing IPL form and hit seven fours and four sixes. Kohli missed his bowling on the day as he lacked options when Smith smashed his regular bowlers. The Indian side badly missed a sixth bowling option as none of their specialist batsmen was good enough to bowl for at least two or three overs.

Poor bowling and fielding cost India the first ODI

It was an awful day as India's bowling unit flopped badly and poor fielding only added to their woes. Three sitters were dropped, and many careless efforts on the field added to the grief.

On the other end, Yuzvendra Chahal earned the ignominy of worst figures by an Indian spinner. He conceded 89 runs in 10 overs and picking one wicket. Jasprit Bumrah's miserable ODI form continued as he gave away 73 runs in 10 overs and picked only one wicket.

India's fastest bowler Navdeep Saini also struggled on Australian tracks. Ravindra Jadeja wasn't as costly as Chahal, but his bowling still lacks the sting.

A lot of credit should go to Warner and Finch for their incredible batting on Friday. The skipper faced Chahal’s spin and played against the turn whereas Warner stayed back in the crease to hit Chahal. This completely disturbed Chahal's line and length. Smith and Maxwell faced no problems in flaying the bowlers during the last ten overs of the innings.

Starc's first over that cost 20 runs did give India the much-needed start of the innings. But Hazlewood's excellent short bowling saw the end of Mayank Agarwal and Kohli leaving the team out of sorts in a wink.

KL Rahul couldn't keep down a naive full-toss from Zampa and India was in serious trouble before 15 overs. A high percentage of 148 dot balls in the Indian innings also showed how only one team mastered the proceedings.

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