Australia fended off an explosive century from Rohit Sharma to post a morale-boosting 34-run victory over India in the first one-day international in Sydney on Saturday. The Australians made 288 for five off their 50 overs after winning the toss and restricted India to 254 for nine.
Sharma blasted 133 off 129 balls in a scintillating effort to keep India in the contest, while man-of-the-match Jhye Richardson took four for 26 for Australia.
It was a tonic for the ailing Australians, coming off their first-ever home Test series defeat to Virat Kohli's India and after winning just three of their previous 24 ODIs.
Test discard Peter Handscomb topscored with 73 off 61 balls for Australia with Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh also registered half-centuries. "I am very pleased with the performance," Australia skipper Aaron Finch said.
"I think the way they rebuilt, Rohit and MS Dhoni, we knew they will take it deep and we managed to pick up the wickets at the right time.
"We can always improve, our execution with the ball was at times off. It will be a good series."
Handscomb, passed over this week by selectors for this month's two Tests against Sri Lanka, led the way with six fours and two sixes.
Fellow Test discard Marsh knocked up 54 off 70 balls while Khawaja made 59 from 81.
India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with two for 66 and wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav claimed two for 54.
"We are not very pleased with the way we played," Kohli said.
"Rohit was outstanding and MS Dhoni supported him well but we could have done better with the tempo of the game."
India lurched to a disastrous start, losing three wickets in the first six overs, from which they failed to recover.
Former World Cup-winning captain M.S. Dhoni put on 137 runs with Sharma for the fourth wicket to stabilise India's rocky start before he was out leg before wicket to Behrendorff for 51 and his 68th ODI half-century.
Aaron Finch fell for six in the third over when he was bowled by Kumar for the paceman's 100th ODI wicket.
Alex Carey fell in Kuldeep's first over when he attempted to cut the leg-spinner, only to get an outside edge to Sharma at slip for 24 off 31 balls.
Khawaja and Marsh put on 92 runs for the third wicket before Khawaja was out leg before wicket to spinner Ravindra Jadeja for 59 in the 29th over.
The second match in the three-match series takes place in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Scoreboard
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Australia
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A. Carey c Sharma b Kuldeep 24
A. Finch b Kumar 6
U. Khawaja lbw b Jadeja 59
S. Marsh c Shami b Kuldeep 54
P. Handscomb c Dhawan b Kumar 73
M. Stoinis not out 47
G. Maxwell not out 11
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Extras: (b4, lb2, nb2, w6) 14
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Total: (5 wkts; 50 overs) 288
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Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Finch), 2-41 (Carey), 3-133 (Khawaja), 4-186 (Marsh), 5-254 (Handscomb)
Did not bat: J. Richardson, N. Lyon, P. Siddle, J. Behrendorff
Bowling: Kumar 10-0-66-2 (1w), Ahmed 8-0-55-0 (2w, 2nb), Shami 10-0-46-0 (3w), Kuldeep 10-0-54-2, Jadeja 10-0-48-1, Rayudu 2-0-13-0
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India
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R. Sharma c Maxwell b Stoinis 133
S. Dhawan lbw b Behrendorff 0
V. Kohli c Stoinis b Richardson 3
A. Rayudu lbw b Richardson 0
M.S. Dhoni lbw b Behrendorff 51
D. Karthik b Richardson 12
R. Jadeja c Marsh b Richardson 8
B. Kumar not out 29
K. Yadav c Khawaja b Siddle 3
M. Shami c Maxwell b Stoinis 1
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Extras: (lb7, nb1, w6) 14
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Total: (9 wkts; 50 overs) 254
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Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Dhawan), 2-4 (Kohli), 3-4 (Rayudu), 4-141 (Dhoni), 5-176 (Karthik), 6-213 (Jadeja), 7-221 (Sharma), 8-247 (Yadav), 9-254 (Shami) Did not bat: K. Ahmed
Bowling: Behrendorff 10-2-39-2 (1w, 1nb), Richardson 10-2-26-4 (3w), Siddle 8-0-48-1, Lyon 10-1-50-0, Stoinis 10-0-66-2 (2w), Maxwell 2-0-18-0
Result: Australia win by 34 runs Toss: Australia
Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG), Paul Wilson (AUS)
TV Umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM).
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