India-Australia
Australia beat India by seven wickets in rain-hit match; Kohli, Rohit Sharma fail to deliver
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's return to the cricket field proved to be a poor day for the Men In Blue, with Australia beating India by seven wickets and 29 balls to spare in the first ODI match in Perth on Sunday.
In a rain-shortened match, India's batting crumbled to 136 for nine in the 26-over innings.
Australia took 21.1 overs to reach the winning score of 131 runs by losing three wickets.
Winning the toss and electing to bowl was a masterstroke by Mitchell Marsh.
From the first over, the Australian pacers had India on the back foot with the openers struggling against the World Champions.
Indian batting maestro Rohit Sharma, looking to assert himself, was undone by Josh Hazlewood's extra bounce for 8.
Indian fans were left shocked when Virat Kohli, chasing a wide delivery from Nitchell Starc, nicked it to Cooper Connolly at backward point for a duck.
Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer tried to stem the rot, but the scoreboard read 45 for four before India's hopes of a competitive total started to diminish further infront of a strong Australian attack.
A Test match favourite, Nitish Kumar Reddy, making his ODI debut, played fearlessly, smashing Mathew Kuhnemann into the stands twice.
However, quick wickets of Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh (run out), and Mohammad Siraj saw India fold at 136 for nine.
Australia’s 131-run DLS chase saw Travis Head start off aggressively but fell for 8, giving India a fleeting chance.
Then Josh Philippe hammered two sixes and three boundaries, reminding everyone of the power of timing and intent, giving Australian run-chase an extra edege.
Showing his calm and composure in front of the wicket, Mitchell Marsh punished Siraj and Arshdeep with successive sixes and boundaries over deep cover and deep square, while Matt Renshaw (21*) combined elegance with smartness, carving fours and sixes with supreme control to make things further difficult for the visitors.
Australia now take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
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