Australia defeated India by 7 wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The match was reduced to 26 overs after four rain breaks, with India reaching 136/9 in the allotted overs. However, the target was revised to 131 after taking Duckworth & Lewis into consideration.

Australia’s stand-in captain, Mitchell Marsh, scored an unbeaten 46 runs off 52 balls to take his team home in 21.1 overs. He hit 2 fours and 3 sixes. Apart from him, Josh Philippe, the wicket-keeper batter, managed 37 runs off 29 deliveries, with the help of three fours and 2 sixes.

Earlier, Team India’s top order flopped in front of the rival bowlers. Rohit Sharma (8), Virat Kohli (0), Shubman Gill (10), and Shreyas Iyer (11) disappointed with the bat. KL Rahul (38), Axar Patel (31) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19*) added important runs with the bat.

Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen and Josh Hazlewood took two wickets each.

More to follow