INDIAN opener Rohit Sharma raises bat on reaching the 150-run mark.—AFP Rohit’s 163-ball knock was the highest score by a visiting batsman against Australia, overtaking West Indies great Viv Richards’s unbeaten 153 in 1979 in Melbourne.
Kohli fell in unselfish manner trying to score quickly for his team and was out caught close to the boundary rope by Aaron Finch off paceman James Faulkner, who finished with figures of 2-60 in his 10 overs.
Paceman Scott Boland made a forgettable debut for Australia as he gave away 74 runs in his 10 overs while the other debutant Joel Paris also went wicketless, conceding 53 in his eight.
Brisbane will host the second match of the five-game series on Friday.
Scoreboard
INDIA:
R. Sharma not out 171S. Dhawan c Marsh b Hazlewood 9V. Kohli c Finch b Faulkner 91M. Dhoni c Boland b Faulkner 18R. Jadeja not out 10
EXTRAS (LB-6, W-4) 10
TOTAL (3 wickets; 50 overs) 309
FALL OF WKTS: 1-36 (Dhawan); 2-243 (Kohli), 3-286 (Dhoni)
DID NOT BAT: A. Rahane, M. Pandey, R. Ashwin, U. Yadav, B. Kumar, B. Sran
BOWLING: Hazlewood 10-0-41-1, Paris 8-0-53-0 (1w), Marsh 9-0-53-0 (1w), Boland 10-0-74-0, Faulkner 10-0-60-2 (1w), Maxwell 3-0-22-0 (1w)
AUSTRALIA:
A. Finch c and b Sran 8D. Warner c Kohli b Sran 5S. Smith c Kohli b Sran 149G. Bailey c Kumar b Ashwin 112G. Maxwell c Dhawan b Ashwin 6M. Marsh not out 12J. Faulkner not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-12) 17
TOTAL (5 wickets: 49.2 overs) 310
FALL OF WKTS: 1-9 (Finch), 2-21 (Warner), 3-263 (Bailey), 4-273 (Maxwell), 5-308 (Smith)
DID NOT BAT: M. Wade , S. Boland, J. Hazlewood, J. Paris
BOWLING: Sran 9.2-0-56-3 (3w), Kumar 9-0-42-0 (4w), Sharma 1-0-11-0, Yadav 10-0-54-0 (3w), Jadeja 9-0-61-0 (1w), Aswhin 9-0-68-2 (1w), Kohli 2-0-13-0.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Steve Smith
UMPIRES: Simon Fry (Australia) and Richard Kettleborough (England)
TV Umpire: Mick Martell (Australia)
MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)
Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2016