India have made a losing start to their ODI series against Australia as they lost the 1st ODI by 7 wickets on Sunday (October 19).
The match was affected by rain and reduced to 26 overs per side. India
batted first and scored 136 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. The Indian batting struggled as key players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli got out early, with Kohli scoring a duck, his first on Australian soil.
New captain Shubman Gill scored just 10 runs, and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer managed 11 runs. KL Rahul was the highest scorer for India with 38 runs, while Axar Patel gave some resistance with 31 runs.
Australia chased the revised target of 131 runs comfortably, winning by 7 wickets. Mitchell Marsh anchored the Australian innings with 46 runs as the Aussies have now taken a 1-0 lead in the series. India captain Shubman Gill lamented the poor start with the bat as the reason for their defeat.
"When you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you're always trying to play a catch-up game. A lot of learnings for us from this game and a lot of positives for us as well. We were defending 130 and we took the game, not till the very end, but pretty deep," Gill said at the post-match presentation.
Shubman Gill starts with a defeat as ODI Captain
This match marked a disappointing start for India's new ODI captain, Shubman Gill, and also saw the return of seasoned players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom failed to make an impact. Australia's strong bowling performance and consistent batting ensured they took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
This loss has also made Shubman Gill join Virat Kohli in a humbling record. Gill, after the defeat in Australia, has become only the 2nd Indian captain to start all formats with a loss. Gill lost his first T20I match as captain against Zimbabwe, and also lost his first Test as captain against England in the summer.