JOIN USPlayer of the match Jhye Richardson said Australia were lucky to get Mahendra Singh Dhoni out with a dubious call in the first one-day international against India here on Saturday.
Dhoni was given out leg-before-wicket when the Australian team appealed after the second ball of the 33rd over, bowled by debutant Jason Behrendorff, but TV replays showed the ball had pitched outside the leg-stump. The veteran could not opt for a review as it was unsuccessfully used up by Ambati Rayudu, breaking a 141-run partnership with Rohit Sharma at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
"There was a period there when they had a partnership through the middle and it almost could have taken the game away from us. But we were lucky to get Dhoni out lbw and we kept getting wickets from there on," Richardson said.
Richardson, who took his best figures in ODI cricket, 4/26 in 10 overs, praised centurion Rohit Sharma's effort.
"Rohit batted really well. Credit to him and he summed up the conditions just as well as we did. He batted very patiently and knew the balls he could put away. He picked the gaps really well.
"Rohit was very dangerous and we understood that. So our plan sort of changed to getting him off strike and just bowling at the batsman down the other end."
The young pacer said that the hosts were confident of defending a "competitive" 288 as they thought the SCG wicket was on the slower side.
"It was a really good wicket and we understood that it wasn't the quickest wicket in the world. So we knew when the ball goes a little softer later in the innings, when we turn the slower balls, we could use change of pace and we thought it would be quite effective," Richardson said.
This was the first time since 2017 that Australia won the opening game of an ODI series.
"I was actually disappointed when the ball came out. I probably bowled a bit too straight," said the pacer about Virat Kohli's dismissal.
"I had a fielder there who hung on to it, so it is a wicket I will remember for a very long time."
"I am ecstatic and really excited for the team. It's good to put a personal performance on the board but I am really excited in the way Australian cricket is heading."
"The way we prepared for this game and the research we did on Indian players. Everything leading up to this game, I felt was absolutely perfect," he said.