India's start to the Australia limited-overs Tour did not go the Shubman Gill-led ODI team's way at all. Despite the batting line-up getting bolstered by the return of two heavyweights - Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma - India managed just 136/9 in a rain-curtailed 26-over match in the first ODI in Perth on Sunday. Australia chased down the target with seven wickets to spare. While the Indian top four - Rohit, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer - failed, there was some resistance from No. 5 Axar Patel (31) and No. 6 KL Rahul (38).

Krishnamachari Srikkanth, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, was baffled by KL Rahul's position in the batting order.

"KL Rahul should play ahead of Shreyas Iyer. It was an absurd decision by the team and management. You are leaving him and looking somewhere else. If he scores, he scores a lot. Axar Patel going higher than KL is absolute rubbish," Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Sportskeeda.

"The point is not whether Axar played well or not. You have one of the best and classiest players in your XI. KL should have come in at five. If I were the captain, I would have even sent him at four, in fact. The conditions in the subcontinent are different from those in Australia. He should be playing the maximum number of balls."

Srikkanth was also unhappy with the batting position of all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

"By any chance, had they gone up to 160 and not lost more wickets, the DLS score would have been higher, and probably things could have favoured India. If we talk neutrally, rain actually saved them. Another mistake they made was not sending Nitish in after KL and Axar got out. You took him as a big hitter in the team, then put him in front. Don't go behind the left-right combination," he added.

"India started giving up after 60 or 70 for two. But if they had 150 on the board, they wouldn't have given up. It may have been difficult even for Marsh."Don't go behind the left-right combination," he added.

"India started giving up after 60 or 70 for two. But if they had 150 on the board, they wouldn't have given up. It may have been difficult even for Marsh."