Perth: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s return to international cricket after more than seven months turned out to be disastrous – not only for the ageing superstars but for Team India as well.
Rohit and Virat, who now play only ODIs, were dismissed for 8 and 0, respectively, as the men in blue lost the rain-curtailed first ODI against Australia by 7 wickets at Perth Stadium on Sunday.
Asked to bat first after Mitchell Marsh won the toss, India were slow off the blocks on a bouncy pitch. Soon, they started losing wickets – Rohit edged Josh Hazlewood to slip in the fourth over, Kohli failed to open his account in seven balls before driving in the air to be snapped up at backward point off Mitchell Starc. And in the ninth over, Shubman Gill, making his debut as full-time ODI skipper, was caught down the legside for 10 after hitting two lovely boundaries.
India were tottering at 25/3, when rain forced the players off the field.
There were three more rain interruptions, and the game was reduced to a 26-overs-a-side contest.
The early jitters and frequent stops and starts didn’t help the visitors, and they struggled to up the tempo. KL Rahul (38 off 31, 2×4, 2×6) was the lone man to find any rhythm, while Axar Patel made 38.
Australia lost the dangerous Travis Head in the second over, and Matthew Short with score on 44. But Marsh (46 not out off 52, 2×4, 3×6) and Josh Philippe (37 off 29, 3×4, 2×6) made sure the home team wouldn’t mess up a simple chase of the revised target of 131.
BRIEF SCORES
India 136/9 in 26 overs (KL Rahul 38, Axar Patel 31; Josh Hazlewood 2/20, Mitchell Owen 2/20, Matthew Kuhnemann 2/26).
Australia 131/3 in 21.1 overs (Mitchell Marsh 46 not out, Josh Philippe 37).
Result: Australia won by 7 wickets (DLS Method).
Player of the Match: Mitchell Marsh.
2nd ODI: Oct 23 at Adelaide, from 9 am.
