Australia bounce back after Test defeat, draw first blood

Perry, Litchfield and McGrath strike half-centuries to help visitors win opening ODI by six wickets 

- Aditya Chaturvedi

They had suffered a heavy defeat in the one-off Test four days earlier which was just their 11th loss in the format. Asked to bowl in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday, they had their backs to the wall as India scored their highest ODI total against them. But Australia, who've won the 50-over World Cup a record seven times, can never be counted out. The visitors bounced back in style as Ellyse Perry, Phoebe Litchfield and Tahlia McGrath struck half-centuries to help them win by six wickets.

For the most part, it was a story of two batters battling immense physical discomfort to propel their respective teams. In the first half, Jemimah Rodrigues fought dehydration to score a 77-ball 82. Together with Pooja Vastrakar (62 off 46 balls), she guided India to a solid 282/8. In reply, Perry held firm despite calf cramps to score 75 off 72 balls. With Litchfield (78) and McGrath (68) dominating as well, Australia finished at 285/4 and won with 21 balls to spare.

Australia faced a setback in the first over as skipper Alyssa Healy was dismissed by Renuka Singh Thakur thanks to a superb diving catch by Sneh Rana at short-third. But they paced their innings smartly from thereon as Perry joined Litchfield.