Australia’s sharp bowling crushes India in rain-hit Perth opener

Australia’s sharp bowling crushes India in rain-hit Perth opener

India vs Australia: Matt Renshaw and Mitch Owen have been handed their ODI debuts in Australia's one-day clash with India in Perth. Australia beat India by 7 wickets a rain affected match.

The ground staff at Perth’s Optus Stadium don’t often have to use the covers during a match until today. The first ODI between Australia and India turned into a stop-start affair, with rain interrupting play four times. Despite the gloomy weather, Australia delivered a superb bowling performance to restrict India to just 136 for 9 in 26 overs. Later, they chased a DLS-adjusted target of 131 comfortably to record their first ODI win at the venue and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The loss also meant Shubman Gill joined his idol Virat Kohli as the only two Indian captains to lose their first match in all three formats. Gill’s ODI captaincy debut began with a lost toss, forcing India to bat first under dark clouds on a lively pitch. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc took full advantage of the conditions, striking early and hard.

Rohit Sharma, trying to create space against Hazlewood’s tight lengths, edged a rising delivery to slip. Virat Kohli followed soon after, falling to a sharp delivery from Starc that he sliced to backward point his first-ever ODI duck in Australia. Gill was next, nicking Nathan Ellis down the leg side to leave India in trouble at 25 for 3, just before the first rain delay after 8.5 overs.

When play resumed briefly, Axar Patel came in higher up the order, but rain soon stopped play again. After more than two hours, the game was reduced to 35 overs per side. Shreyas Iyer started positively with a boundary, but Hazlewood dismissed him again his seventh time in 13 matches.

After two more rain breaks, the match was cut further to 26 overs a side. India had only 56 balls left. Axar Patel and KL Rahul counterattacked with quick runs, hitting boundaries off debutant Mitchell Owen and Nathan Ellis. Axar made 31 before holing out to long-on, while Rahul’s 38 from 31 balls gave India some momentum before Owen took his first ODI wicket. Debutant Nitish Reddy added two late sixes, helping India reach 136 scoring 84 runs in just 9.2 overs after the final restart.

Australia’s chase started shakily when Arshdeep Singh removed Travis Head early with a clever trap at third man. But skipper Mitchell Marsh came out swinging, smashing three sixes off India’s pacers. Axar Patel picked up another wicket, dismissing Matthew Short, but Australia were already cruising at 55 for 2 in 10 overs.

Marsh stayed unbeaten on 46, while Josh Philippe added 37 runs to seal a comfortable win for Australia. The day ended with smiles for the hosts and more disappointment for India under gloomy Perth skies.

Brief scores: India 136/9 in 26 overs (KL Rahul 38, Axar Patel 31; Josh Hazlewood 2-20, Matthew Kuhnemann 2-26) lost to Australia 131/3 in 21.1 overs (Mitchell Marsh 46*; Axar Patel 1-19) by seven wickets (via DLS method)