One can say that India didn’t lose to Australia in Perth but to the rain. Although the match started on time and India had lost 3 wickets by the time the first rain delay happened, the game was stopped 30 minutes after KL Rahul and Axar Patel started to form a partnership.
After a 2-hour delay, the India vs Australia 1st ODI was reduced to 35 overs per side. Just 10 minutes later, rain returned. The play started, and again it stopped. Finally, the stop and start started, but the game was reduced to 26 overs per side. India was 52/4 in 16.4 overs then and needed to somehow come back into the game.
Rohit & Kohli scratchy on return
But before we get into that, let’s return to the start. Rohit Sharma looked good to begin with. Mitchell Starc was bringing the ball in, and as usual, Rohit was going for his shots. His downfall came about not because of his fault but because of a great delivery from Josh Hazlewood. You can’t really find a flaw in what he did.
However, the case is the same with Virat Kohli. He looked out of place from ball one. The ball he timed went straight to the fielder, and so he couldn’t get off the mark. The pressure was mounting, and once again, Kohli got out to a ball pitched outside off.
The pattern had become regular in his last Test series against Australia and made a return in his first ODI since the Champions Trophy final. Kohli had played and missed a full ball from Mitchell Starc before and was lucky not to edge it behind the stumps.
But when that ball was on a good length, Kohli’s eyes lit up, and he fell into that trap again. Departing for an 8-ball duck on his ODI comeback.
Shubman Gill starts ODI captaincy with defeat
Shubman Gill, who was playing his maiden ODI as captain, was strangled down leg. But Axar, Rahul, and then Nitish Reddy brought India back into the game with valuable cameos. However, 131 was never going to be enough to defend. Australia knew the target and could play accordingly, while India had no idea the game was going to be curtailed when they began playing.
Barring Harshit Rana, no other Indian bowler got any help. The tall pacer, who’s under unjust criticism for his selection, made the ball talk. Unluckily, he couldn’t get a wicket. Mitchell Marsh and Josh Philippe propped, poked, edged, and missed but escaped unscathed. Arshdeep Singh’s early scalp of Travis Head didn’t help much.
Axar and Washington Sundar got a wicket each, but Marsh saw Australia home with 4.5 overs to spare. Matthew Renshaw, who was making his ODI debut, also remained unbeaten. Gill’s era didn’t start the way he would have wanted, but he’s got two more matches to change that and win the India vs Australia ODI series.
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