Aussies off to a flier

Pune: Australia rode on a dominating all-round display to thrash a lacklustre India by 72 runs in the first cricket one-dayer here today. Electing to bat, the visitors piled up a mammoth 304 for eight relying on captain George Bailey's 85 and Aaron Finch's 72 and then shot India out for 232 in 49.4 overs to take 1-0 lead in the seven-match ODI series.

The Indian run chase under lights at the MCA Stadium never get going against the sustained and aggressive Australian bowling attack. The visiting side, who were handed a four-wicket defeat in the one-off T20 International at Rajkot on October 10, bowled a disciplined line and length and choked the Indian batsmen in the middle overs. Chasing 305 for a win, India needed to fire on the top of the order but they failed to do so, losing both the openers Shikhar Dhawan (7) and Rohit Sharma (42) for 66 on board in the 14th over.

Virat Kohli top-scored with 61 from 85 balls with six fours, while Suresh Raina contributed a 45-ball 39. Ravindra Jadeja (11) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (19) could not pull the team around after India slumped to 166 for five by the 35th over just before the power play and their dismissals in successive overs effectively ended the match. For Australia, James Faulkner grabbed three wickets for while Clint McKay and Shane Watson chipped in with two wickets apiece.

Mitchell Johnson, Aaron Finch and Adam Voges got a wicket each. Australia had lost by four wickets in the opening game of their short tour, the one-off T20 International at Rajkot on October 10. The two sides now moved to Jaipur for the second ODI on October 16.

SCORE CARD

Australia innings

PJ Hughes 47, AJ Finch 72, SR Watson 2, GJ Bailey* 85, AC Voges 7, GJ Maxwell 31, BJ Haddin† 10, JP Faulkner 27, MG Johnson 9, CJ McKay 11

Extras: (lb 3) 3

Total : (8 wickets-50 overs) 304

India innings

S Dhawan 7, RG Sharma 42, V Kohli 61, SK Raina 39, Yuvraj Singh 7, MS Dhoni*†19, RA Jadeja 11, R Ashwin 5, B Kumar 18, R Vinay Kumar 11, I Sharma 1

Extras: (b 2, lb 4, w 5) 11

Total: (all out 49.4 overs) 232