Australia humbled India in a rain-interrupted Perth ODI, sealing a dominant 7-wicket win and their first-ever ODI victory at Optus Stadium.
Till now it has been happening that players get tired in any sports match, but today in the cricket match between Australia and India, the ground staff got the maximum exercise. Rain interrupted the ODI match played in Perth four times throughout the day, leaving the ground staff without a moment’s rest.
The entire match became a battle between rain and hard work, sometimes laying down the covers and sometimes removing them.
But in the midst of threatening skies, Australia delivered a bowling masterclass and stopped India on just 136 for 9 in 26 overs. But before chasing, the DLS target was adjusted to 131 runs due to multiple rain interruptions.
India got off to a poor start in the Perth ODI. The Australian fast bowlers put pressure on the Indian batsmen from the outset. Captain Rohit Sharma struggled against Josh Hazlewood’s fast and bouncy deliveries. A Hazlewood delivery suddenly bounced and Rohit Sharma edged it straight to slip. Rohit Sharma was dismissed early. Virat Kohli came in to bat next, and the Perth stadium erupted in applause. But even Kohli couldn’t withstand the pace of Mitchell Starc in the Perth ODI. He tried to hit a boundary, but the ball took the edge of his bat and went straight into the fielder’s hands. This was Virat Kohli’s first duck in ODIs in Australia. As soon as he was out, India’s score became 25 runs for three wickets and the team got into deep trouble.
India’s opening innings quickly collapsed, leaving the responsibility of rebuilding the innings to Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. When the match resumed after rain, Shreyas Iyer struck a brilliant boundary off the very first ball. But he didn’t last long, being caught by the wicketkeeper off Josh Hazlewood. KL Rahul then steadied the innings, calmly hitting some well-placed boundaries to boost his team’s score.
Then came Axar Patel, who was promoted up the batting order. Axar hit some brilliant shots and, along with Rahul, carried the team forward. But while he was trying to score quick runs, he played a big shot which went straight into the hands of the long on fielder. Axar was dismissed for 31. Rahul also made a quick 38, but he too was dismissed early. Finally, Nitish Reddy smashed two sixes on his debut to take the team to 136.
The pursuit of the redefined target of 131 runs by Australia started on unsound footing, when Arshdeep Singh made an early strike by knocking out Travis Head, a man whose exploits have caused much discomfort to India in the recent encounters, with a nifty maneuver at the third man. But captain Mitchell Marsh soon changed the fortunes and made a splash by his fiery batting, hitting Arshdeep a six and succeeding it with two more huge blows on Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana.
Gill introduced spin in the assault early and Axar Patel created an immediate impression by dismissing Matthew Short at short third man. However, at the time Australia had scored 55 runs in the first 10 overs. Marsh had embraced one end and dared not be beaten on 46, but still the gloom was resting upon the side of Perth, and Josh Philippe had made a quick 37.
