1st ODI: Dhoni and Jadhav keep their cool to give India 1-0 lead against Australia

Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a chase deep for the umpteenth time but it needed Kedar Jadhav's street-smartness to get India back on winning track as they beat Australia by six wickets in the first ODI here Saturday.

In the afternoon, Indian bowlers controlled the proceedings like seasoned puppeteers, pulling strings at will to restrict Australia to a sub-par 236 for 7.

Kuldeep Yadav (2/46 in 10 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (0/33 in 10 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (1/31) made up for a rare off-day that Jasprit Bumrah (2/60 in 10 overs), had by his standards.

It was a vastly different performance from the bowling unit which maintained discipline for the better part of the 50 overs with Mohammed Shami (2/44 in 10 overs) showing the way.

Even Usman Khawaja (50) and Glenn Maxwell (40), despite being the top two contributors, weren't exactly comfortable against an Indian attack that bowled as many as 169 dot balls.

Maxwell joined Peter Handscomb at 97 for three and the duo farmed the strike well during their run-a-ball partnership.

Handscomb was using his feet well but Kuldeep managed to produce a classical chinaman's delivery. Handscomb was deceived twice first in the air and then it broke back sharply for Dhoni to complete the easiest of glovework.

Later, on the way to his fifth half-century, Kedar hit nine fours and a six as he upped the ante once Dhoni started suffering from cramps, getting those big shots out of the closet.

That age is catching up was visible when Dhoni was taking those doubles on big Australian grounds but he did enough to complete his 71st half-century in his 339th ODI. Fittingly, Dhoni finished the game with successive boundaries off Marcus Stoinis.