AUSTRALIA – 131-3 (21.1)

Player of the Match – Mitchell Marsh

India tour of Australia, India will play 3 ODIs and 5 T20s. 

Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rohit got out on Hazlewood’s hard length ball, edged and taken at second slip. Virat Kohli struggled with that same old problem. Went for a big drive away from his body. Thick outside edge and taken at the backward point by Connolly. 

Nathan Ellis took the Indian Captain in the 9th over. India’s top 3 got out early. Rain affected the match, and Iyer also got out early after the restart of the match. Axar and Rahul built a partnership, and at the end of the innings, Nitish Reddy hit some crucial runs. Hazelewood, Mitchell Owen, and M Kuhnemann took 2 wickets each, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis took 1 wicket each.

Match reduced to 26 overs due to rain. India posted a total of 136 runs in 26 overs, but it was reduced to 130 due DLS method. The DLS method needs some reforms. India played according to 50 overs at the start, but rain interrupted, and they got to know the match was reduced to 26 overs. Then they try to make quick runs. In between, they lose wickets. On the other hand, Australia knew from the start that they needed to chase this score in 26 overs. How is it fair to cut those 6 runs from India’s total?

Arshdeep took the early wicket of Travis Head on 8 runs. Matthew Short got out on Axar Patel’s ball. But Mitchell Marsh scored 46 runs not out, and Josh Philippe scored 37 runs and got out on Washington’s ball. Reshaw scored 21 runs to get a comfortable win for Australia.

India last played in Australia during the 2020-21 tour, where they played 3 ODIs. Australia won 2 matches, and India won 1. The last ODI series between the two sides was held in India in 2023-24, which India won 2-1.

Australia’s last ODI series was against South Africa, which they lost. But in the final match of that series, they showed their batting firepower, scoring a massive 431 runs and bowling South Africa out for 155, winning by 276 runs. India, on the other hand, has not played an ODI since winning the ICC Champions Trophy Final against New Zealand.

Why is this Series Important?

This series carries extra excitement for fans because Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two of India’s biggest cricketing icons, will be playing. They have served India for a long time and have won many crucial matches. Both have a huge fan base across the globe.

Since retiring from T20Is and Tests, ODI is the only format where both are active. Fans don’t know how long they will continue, so this series is special. Seeing both legends in blue again has created a huge buzz among cricket lovers.

Squads

India Squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Australia Squad: Mitchell Marsh (C), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey (WK), Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (WK), Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe (WK), Matt Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.