IND vs AUS: 'Flying' KL Rahul grabs a stunner, gets hailed for wicketkeeping in 1st ODI

IND vs AUS 1st ODI: India wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul grabbed a blinder off Hardik Pandya's bowling to dismiss Australian captain Steve Smith. Rahul was making a comeback in the Indian ODI side as he had missed the series against New Zealand due to his marriage to his girlfriend and Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty. 

Australia after being invited to bat first by Indian captain Hardik Pandya lost opener Travis Head very early for a score of five but were later well handled by skipper Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh. The visitors were scoring at a good run rate before Pandya dismissed Smith after KL Rahul took his blinder catch. 

Hardik Pandya gets Steve Smith

Hardik Pandya came in to bowl the 13th over of the innings. On the third bowl of the over Smith tried to hit an absolute outside off-stump ball but ended up edging it to KL Rahul who stunned the Aussie skipper by taking a blinder catch flying to his right. KL Rahul has not been in form in international cricket of late due to which he has faced a lot of flak. Rahul was given numerous opportunities, especially in Test cricket but he failed to deliver every single time.

Coming back to the first ODI between India and Australia the visitors batted first. Indian team captain Hardik Pandya ensured that the Aussies do not have a good start to the match. Aussie opener Travis Head departed pretty early as he was knocked over by Mohammed Siraj for five. 

Australia looked in total control after Head's wicket as skipper Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh started to take control of Australia's innings. Marsh and Smith started to deal in boundaries and threatened to score big, but skipper Pandya had different ideas in his mind.  The Australian attack didn't last very long as the Indian bowlers brought India back into the game and dismissed Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Mitchell Marsh. Australia wanted to go big in the first ODI but they were severely restricted by the Indian pacers and were bundled out for 188 runs.

If we talk about the Indian team they are currently ranked number one in the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings and now they will be eying to win the ODI World Cup 2023 which is set to be held in India this year.