The Indian cricket team started the 3-match ODI series in a perfect manner by winning the first ODI which was played yesterday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, and the hero of this victory was the Indian cricketer KL Rahul.
KL Rahul was under fire for quite a long time because of his poor form and some former Indian cricketers especially Venkatesh Prasad were very vocal regarding his ouster from the team. KL Rahul played a superb knock of 75 runs not out for which he played 91 balls. His innings included 7 fours and 1 six and he ensured that his team went home as the winner.
Soon after the match, the micro-blogging site Twitter was flooded with reactions and Twitterati had a field day as fans started slamming those who trolled KL Rahul earlier and few of them also referred to the scuffle between Aakash Chopra and Venkatesh Prasad.
Here are some selected reactions:
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.What a comeback from both of them.🔥 #INDvsAUS
Bhakt role Mahadev impact pic.twitter.com/a4lJNaR0T0
— Akshat (@AkshatOM10) March 17, 2023
A Fine Knock By KL Rahul 👏👏#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/QI4tOBVMat
— RVCJ Media (@RVCJ_FB) March 17, 2023
Sunil anna with all the KL Rahul trollers:#KLRahul pic.twitter.com/VgXBtBM8Sx
— Prayag (@theprayagtiwari) March 17, 2023
KL Rahul after playing match winning inning #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/G1opY5Lt77
— Anoop 🇮🇳 (@ianooop) March 17, 2023
KL Rahul at No.5 in ODIs from just 17 innings:
– 88* (64) in NZ:
156/3 to 347/4.– 112 (113) in NZ:
62/3 to 296/7.– 73 (70) in Bangladesh:
49/3 to 186 (lone fifty for India).– 64* (103) Vs Sri Lanka:
86/4 to chase down 219.– 75* (91) Vs Australia:
39/4 to chase down 189. pic.twitter.com/Y8fc60A3ti— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 17, 2023
Great teams are built on trust. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid showed faith, KL Rahul proves they were not wrong. @klrahul pic.twitter.com/Zpv25lOPSr
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 17, 2023
Puja Path role Bhagwan impact
Well played KL Rahul 👏#INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/cxclc4BFTp
— VECTOR 𝕏 (@Vector_45R) March 17, 2023
Any bhala toh sab bhala.
Great all round show by Jaddu and top knock from KL Rahul. #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/npoS1E1zaS— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) March 17, 2023
Bola tha na bandhe mai hai Dum well done @klrahul good to see you scoring runs and winning the first odi for team India 🇮🇳 way to go 👍 Top stuff Jadeja with the ball and bat… well bowled @MdShami11 @mdsirajofficial @imjadeja pic.twitter.com/9ALZWXS997
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 17, 2023
Kl Rahul said "Virat Kohli is the only one who supported everytime in my whole career,he always backs me and motivate to perform better ".
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddel_vohra_) March 17, 2023
https://twitter.com/IconicKohIi/status/1636741797538930690
Superb game awareness and composure from these two under pressure. Well played @klrahul & @imjadeja 👏🏽👏🏽 #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/JbglgYacsb
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) March 17, 2023
https://twitter.com/Vid_itt/status/1636993582895624195
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul What a comeback from both of them pic.twitter.com/a6GC6PmVxx
— Kevin (@imkevin149) March 17, 2023
Eveyone hating and bashing on one player.. Droppee from test side.. Survived the phase when pacers were bowling fire and won the match from 40/4.. CHAD KL Rahul 😎🔥https://t.co/V9MI2uOKqm
— Balram Charaniya (@Balraaam05) March 17, 2023
The former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad who slammed KL Rahul heavily because of his poor form also praised the Indian cricketer for his performance in yesterday’s match:
Excellent composure under pressure and a brilliant innings by KL Rahul.
Top knock. Great support by Ravindra Jadeja and a good win for India.#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/tCs74rBiLP— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) March 17, 2023
As far as the match is concerned, India won the toss and chose to bowl first. The decision was proved correct as the Indian bowlers wrapped up the Aussie team for just 188 runs in 35.4 overs. The highest scorer for the Aussies was Mitchell Marsh who played a blistering knock of 81 runs in 65 balls and his innings included 10 fours & 5 sixes. The Indian pacers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj took 3-3 wickets each, Ravindra Jadeja took 2 wickets while the skipper Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav dismissed 1-1 batter each.
The Indian batting also had a bad start as Ishan Kishan (3) got out when the team’s score was 5 runs and he was soon followed by Shubman Gill (20 runs, 31 balls, 3 fours). Virat Kohli (4) also got out early and Suryakumar Yadav was not even able to open his account but the Indian team managed to chase the target successfully because of the brilliant knocks of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja (45 runs not out, 69 balls, 5 fours). Hardik Pandya who led the team in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma also played a useful knock of 25 runs (31 balls, 3 fours & 1 four).
Mitchell Starc took 3 wickets and Marcus Stoinis dismissed 2 batters but they couldn’t break the partnership of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja. The Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his all-round performance. The second ODI will be played tomorrow at YS Raja Reddy Cricket Stadium, Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh.
Which team according to you will win the ODI series? Let us know your opinion.