Australia defeated India by 7 wickets at the Optus Stadium in Perth
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma failed to get going in their first match for India since March
Shubman Gill's start to life as India ODI captain dealt with a setback
India's 3-match ODI series against Australia began with a 7-wicket loss at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The match, which was halted multiple times in the 1st innings, was Shubman Gill's first outing as captain of the 50-over side but it did not end in a good note.
Batting first in Perth, India had set up a target of 132 in 26 overs for the Australians, in accordance with the DLS method. Rohit Sharma (8) and Virat Kohli (0) flopped in their return to the Indian side in 7 months as the duo shared only 8 runs between them.
Axar Patel (31), KL Rahul (38) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19) were the best batters for India. Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and Washinton Sundar did have good starts but they were unable to convert it into something big.
In response, Australia chased down the total 21.1 overs. Skipper Mitchell Marsh, who was adjudged as Man of the match, led from the front with his 49* and remained in the crease until the winning runs were scored.
Travis Head and Matt Short fell down for 8 runs each. Wicket-keeper batter Josh Philippe had a memorable One-day debut with the bat as he scored very important 38 runs. Matt Renshaw closed off the match by hitting the winning runs to get Australia ahead by 1-0 in this 3-match series. The 2nd ODI takes place on October 23rd at the Adelaide Oval Stadium.
India Vs Australia, 1st ODI: Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh
Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Matthew Short, Josh Philippe (wk), Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
Nitish Kumar Reddy makes his one-day international debut today, and was handed his ODI cap from former captain Rohit Sharma. For the hosts, Matt Renshaw and Mitch Owen are making their respective debuts.
All eyes are expectedly on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are back in international colours after the Champions Trophy victory in March. Gill, too, would be under the scanner as he takes up the full-time ODI captaincy role for the first time.
Meanwhile, India would be wary of recurring nemesis Travis Head's destructive impact at the top of the order, and their seam-bowling attack would be fronted by Mohammed Siraj in the absence of the rested Jasprit Bumrah.
India Vs Australia, 1st ODI: Squads
India: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc.
