India vs Australia, 1st ODI at Chennai, , Sep 17 2017 - Match Result

10.15pm After Hardik Pandya and thala MS Dhoni thrilled the Chennai crowd and revived India to 281 for 7, rain cut Australia's chase to 164 in 21 overs. Bumrah sent Cartwright's off stump cartwheeling in his second over, then took an excellent catch to dismiss Smith. Warner flickered briefly as did Maxwell and Faulkner, but Australia were all at sea against India's wristspinners. Kuldeep and Chahal claimed combined figures of 9-0-63-5. Pandya, meanwhile, followed his career-best 83 with the wickets of Smith and Head, and also introduced his knuckle ball to the world. What a day for him!

"The cricket action may be done for the day, but jump right into espn.in for more interesting reading material, including this account on Bengaluru FC's stay in North Korea last week"

"Yeah, obviously we got ourselves into a good position," Steven Smith says. "We had them at 5 for 87 and let things off a bit. MS and Hardik had a great, match-winning partnership. The new ball was stopping and some skidded on. We lost too many wickets in the middle. You can't control the weather. No complaints, we weren't good enough and we were outplayed by India. I thought Cummins and Coulter-Nile bowled very well in the new ball and hopefully they can back it up in a couple of days' time. It was a tough wicket with the new ball, and then we went away from our plans too early."

"We spoke at the toss that we wanted to put on a big score," Kohli says. "We lost wickets but MS and Kedar played well. Hardik then (played well too), MS then finished it off like he does. Today was an example, Sri Lanka was the example of how good the middle and lower order can be. The bowlers were outstanding as well. It is a matter of giving players confidence. Hardik believes in himself, and his innings was the game-changer. He possesses all three skills equally and we are lucky to have him. Chahal is very brave and doesn't say no to any situation. Bhuvi and Bumrah very clinical and our bank bowlers. After the rain, we felt this was our best T20 attack. We can't have a more perfect combination."

"It was a good day for me," Man-of-the-Match Hardik Pandya says. "A couple of catches could have helped. I don't think anything has changed. I am the same Hardik I was a year back. Maybe people's thinking was changed. To be honest, when Mahi bhai was batting with me, we knew what Zampa was going to bowl. I am glad I am doing with the bat and bowl."

That's all she wrote for today. I'll leave you with Sid Monga's report. This is Deivarayan Muthu signing off on the behalf of Varun Shetty, and thanks for tuning in

No.11 Zampa

Swaroop: "Are you and Alagappan Muthu brothers?" --- Indeed

Karthik: "There was a lot of talk about how India can't afford dropped catches against a top team like Australia but seems to me like the Australians really haven't made them count.."

Vinay: "@hamza @ronnie not today"

hamza: "faulkner once smashed ishant sharma for 30 odd runs to win a match from a similar situation in 2013 odi series"

Big Ronnie: "Anyone who saw Coulter-Nile batting against NZ last year would have no doubt that he could do this own his own." --- Here is Bumrah