Mid-pitch protest over Adani Group
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A protester walks onto the pitch during play during the ODI between Australia and India at the SCG on Friday (27)[/caption]
In a security breach, two protesters made their way onto the field of play during the first ODI between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) before being escorted out on Friday (27).
One of the invaders, carrying a placard denouncing India’s Adani Group’s coal project in Australia, reached close to the pitch just before pacer Navdeep Saini was getting ready to bowl the sixth over of the home team’s innings, The Hindu reported on Friday.
The two were escorted out by security after their brief invasion. Fans returned to the ground for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic forced games before empty stadiums across the world.
Cricket Australia has allowed the filling up the stadiums up to 50% of their capacity in the India-Australia series. The engagement comprises three ODIs, as many T20 Internationals, and four Tests.
Brief scores:
Australia 374/6 (Aaron Finch 114, Steven Smith 105, David Warner 69, Glenn Maxwell 45; Mohammed Shami 3-59) beat India 308/8 (Hirdik Pandya 90, Shikhar Dhawan 74; Adam Zampa 4-54, Josh Hazlewood 3-55) by 66 runs.
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Fans were back in the stands for the Sydney ODI on Friday (27)[/caption]
Australia’s first match of a Covid-19 international summer that might have begun in Perth, Brisbane, or Adelaide before finally settling upon the grand old Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) was fitting in that it was both bracingly uneven and also a commanding victory for a home side that was as organised as the logistical efforts that had allowed the series to get underway in the first place, ESPN Cricinfo reported on Friday (27).
A backbone century from Aaron Finch and a blistering one from Steven Smith, coupled with characteristic contributions from David Warner and Glenn Maxwell, vaulted Australia to an imposing six for 374, before India’s chase was unable to maintain the runaway momentum of a beginning that benefitted from a rare case of Mitchell Starc losing control of the ball.
The hosts were concerned primarily by a side problem that afflicted Marcus Stoinis; in a tight schedule, his injury may open a path for Moises Henriques or Cameron Green.
For a couple of passages in particular, the 25 balls in which Maxwell accompanied Smith and then the 21 faced by Virat Kohli, the game touched moments of the greatest possible theatre. But these interludes were fleeting, and fell either side of a more dominant theme, that of Australia's ODI team imposing their greater sense of a settled system and home comfort against an Indian side that will be battling both foreign conditions and increasing extremes of isolation after decamping to the IPL as distantly as three months ago.
Finch and Warner had set the hosts an ideal platform, then Smith and Maxwell went suitably ballistic on a warm and sun-kissed Friday afternoon in front of a crowd of 17,821. Their contrasting quartet of innings was a model in collaboration and acceleration.
Save for an admirable spell from Mohammed Shami, the Indians were noticeably sluggish with the ball and in the field. Misfields and dropped catches furrowed Kohli’s brow, while the leg-breaks of Yuzvendra Chahal were rendered particularly defenceless against Smith and Maxwell at their most damaging.
Starc’s opening over went for an eye-popping 20 thanks to eight wides and a no-ball, and after five overs, the visitors were 0 for 53. Mayank Agarwal’s exit brought Kohli to the middle, and when he faced up Pat Cummins and was dropped, hooking, by Adam Zampa at fine leg, India breathed anew. Instead of this moment affording the game a new twist, however, Kohli only made it as far as 21, and Zampa, alongside Josh Hazlewood, proved the most dominant bowling force of the game.
The hosts had only one change from their last ODI team, against England in Manchester earlier in the year, with Mitchell Marsh absent and Smith returning after he had been unavailable due to concussion. India’s Captain Kohli chose to include Agarwal at the top of the order opposite Shikhar Dhawan in the absence of Rohit Sharma.
Around 40 minutes before the toss, both teams stood side by side to form a barefoot circle around the Walkabout Wickets silk to acknowledge Australia’s Indigenous people and also express their discontent with racism.