Sydney, Jan 12 (IANS): Despite the 34-run victory, Australia pacer Jhye Richardson admitted they were lucky to get former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni out with a dubious call in the first One-day International here on Saturday.

Dhoni was adjudged lbw when the Australian team appealed after the second ball of the 33rd over, bowled by debutant Jason Behrendorff, but television replays showed the ball had pitched outside the leg-stump.

"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 returned career best figures in ODI cricket, 4/26 in 10 overs, as Australia went 1-0 up in the three-match series.

"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 tonight.

"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."

Richardson said they were confident of defending 288 as the 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.

The 22-year-old's bowling played a crucial role in Australia's comfortable victory.

"We saw it at the end and the change of pace worked really well. We thought it would be a competitive score and 280 is a competitive score. There are a few long boundaries at the SCG and I think we actually bowled well according to that tonight," Richardson said.