Stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh led Australia to a seven-wicket victory over India in a rain-affected first ODI at Perth Stadium on Sunday. Marsh scored an unbeaten 46 to guide his team in chasing down a DLS-revised target of 131 with 29 balls to spare. Frequent interruptions due to rain saw the match eventually reduced to a 26-over-a-side contest, with Australia taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The match marked the international return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, but the veteran pair failed to fire after India was put in to bat. Sharma was dismissed for eight, edging a Josh Hazlewood delivery to second slip. Kohli's return ended with an eight-ball duck after he edged a Mitchell Starc ball to backward point, where Cooper Connolly took a spectacular diving catch. New ODI captain Shubman Gill also fell for 10, leaving India struggling at 37-3.
India's top-order collapse continued when Shreyas Iyer, 11, was dismissed by Hazlewood, but the middle order offered resistance. KL Rahul top-scored with 38, and Axar Patel contributed 31. A late cameo from debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, 19 off 11 balls, helped push India to a total of 136-9. Hazlewood was the pick of the Australian bowlers with figures of 2 for 20, while medium-pacer Mitch Owen and spinner Matthew Kuhnemann also claimed two wickets each.
In the chase, Marsh anchored the innings, supported by an aggressive 37 from Josh Philippe, who was returning to the side. Despite Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar taking one wicket apiece, Australia’s batsmen managed the chase effectively. Matt Renshaw finished 21 not out, seeing his team home alongside his captain.
Following his debut as ODI captain, Shubman Gill acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. “Never easy when you lose 3 wickets in powerplay, you are always playing catch up,” Gill said in the post-match presentation. “We were defending 130 and we took the game... pretty deep. We were very satisfied with that.” The series now moves to Adelaide for the second ODI on Thursday.
