Australia's pace and precision blow India away in rain-hit Perth opener

The ground staff at Optus Stadium in Perth have rarely had to reach for the covers during match play, until today. The ODI series opener between Australia and India brought them plenty of exercise, with four rain interruptions splintering the day. But under brooding skies, Australia conjured a resplendent bowling display to pin India to 136 for 9 in 26 overs, before chasing a DLS-adjusted target of 131 with ease to grab their first ODI win at the venue as well as an early 1-0 lead in the series.

The defeat meant Shubman Gill had joined his idol, Virat Kohli, as the only two Indian captains to lose their first games as captain in all three formats. His ODI captaincy bow began just the way his Test captaincy did in Leeds, with a lost toss. That left India batting first under thick clouds, on a surface spitting bounce. Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, in their element, were ruthless from the outset, and their early strikes cut deep.

Rohit Sharma, searching for room against Hazlewood's relentless hard lengths, was undone by one that leapt from beyond the eight-metre mark, a snorter that kissed the edge and carried to slip. Then came Virat Kohli, greeted by a rousing Perth ovation but shackled by Starc's precision. Anxious to get going, he fell in the left-armer's next over, slicing a drive to Cooper Connolly at backward point. It was Kohli's first duck in ODIs in Australia.

Gill followed soon after, feathering a leg-side delivery from Nathan Ellis through to the 'keeper to leave India 25 for 3, just before the first rain delay after 8.5 overs. Axar Patel's promotion broke the run of right-handers, but play barely resumed for 12 minutes before another downpour sent everyone scurrying off again.

When the skies cleared after more than two hours, the match had been trimmed to 35 overs a side. India's intent was clear from ball one as Shreyas Iyer cracked the first delivery post-resumption for four. But Hazlewood soon had his seventh dismissal of Iyer in 13 games (across formats), angling a short ball into the body for a gloved catch behind.

Two more rain breaks later, the match was reduced again: 26 overs a side, with India left just 56 balls to play. Axar Patel immediately went after debutant Mitchell Owen, carving two boundaries, while KL Rahul launched a brisk counter with boundaries off his own in the next over from Ellis.

Axar's lively 31 ended when he miscued a slog sweep against Matthew Kuhnemann to long-on, but Rahul kept India ticking. He danced down to Matthew Short for two sixes before falling to Owen for 38 off 31, the all-rounder's first ODI wicket. India's late hitting came from debutant Nitish Reddy, who struck a pair of sixes to lift the total to 136, meaning they had scored 84 runs in the 9.2 overs after the final rain break, a little solace in a forgettable batting innings.

Australia's chase, revised to 131, began with a blip as Arshdeep Singh removed Travis Head, India's tormentor in recent years, with a clever square third-man trap. But captain Mitchell Marsh responded with brute force, pulling Arshdeep for six before drilling two more maximums off Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana.

Gill threw the ball to spin early, and Axar struck again, removing Matthew Short at short third man. But by then, Australia had already carved 55 runs off the target inside 10 overs. Marsh held one end up to finish with 46* while Josh Philippe added a brisk 37, ensuring the gloom over Perth belonged only to India.

Brief scores:India 136/9 in 26 overs (KL Rahul 38, Axar Patel 31; Josh Hazlewood 2-20, Matthew Kuhnemann 2-26) lost to Australia 131/3 in 21.1 overs (Mitchell Marsh 46*; Axar Patel 1-19) by seven wickets (via DLS method)