India lost to Australia by 66 runs in the first ODI in Sydney. Australia batted first, scoring 374 runs in 50 overs thanks to centuries by captain Aaron Finch (114) and Steve Smith (105). In response, India chased the target, despite the innings of Hardik Pandya (90) and Shikhar Dhawan (74), scoring just 308 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 50 overs. Prior to the ODIs at the Sydney Cricket Ground, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar refused to be considered a batsman, and recommended that Manish Pandey be included in the one-day squad instead of Hardik Pandya. Manjrekar regretted his statement after Pandya’s innings in the first ODI.

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Speaking to Sony Six, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “I was a bit skeptical. Hardik Pandya, we had never seen a batsman before, but he had a lot of confidence after today.” Virender Sehwag had a great talk about his competition. We are talking about Manish Pandey and Rishabh Pant in 50 overs cricket. MS Dhoni was acting in such roles. Of the options available to us, this is exciting now, and of course we constantly expect such performance from them.

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Prior to the match, Sanjay Manjrekar had picked the playing XI, in which he included Manish Pandey in his squad instead of the Hardik Pandey, and responded by asking fans if Hardik was not a pure batsman and that he was five overs. When bowling, I kept them on my team.