PERTH (Kashmir English): In a groundbreaking move, Australia has defeated India by 7 wickets in the first One Day International (ODI) of the three-match series played in Perth to take a 1-0 lead.
Australia won the toss and invited India to bat first, but the Indian team ran into trouble from the start. The opening three batsmen returned to the pavilion for a total of just 18 runs. Shubman Gill scored 10, Rohit Sharma scored 8 runs, while Virat Kohli was out without opening his account.
Play was stopped twice due to rain, after which the match was limited to 26 overs per innings. In the stipulated overs, India scored 136 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.
KL Rahul was the standout batsman with 38 runs, while Axar Patel played a fine innings of 31 runs. Nitish Kumar Reddy returned unbeaten on 19 runs.
The Australian bowlers put in a brilliant performance. Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Owen, and Matthew Cohenman took 2 wickets each, while Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis took one wicket each.
Australia were given a target of 131 runs under the DL method, which the host team easily achieved in 21.1 overs for the loss of 3 wickets.
Captain Mitchell Marsh remained unbeaten on 46, and Matt Renshaw on 21 runs. Josh Phillip played a lightning-fast innings of 37 runs, while Travis Head and Matthew Short went to the pavilion after scoring 8 runs each.
For India, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar took one wicket each.
