India vs Australia, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Australia tour of India, 2017 Venue: JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi Date & Time: Oct 07, 07:00 PM LOCAL

India will hope to begin the T20I series in the same way they started the ODIs © AFP

All over - India take 1-0 lead in T20I series

Defending 48 off 6 overs was never going to be easy and Australia will rue the rain's impact. However, they will need to take good hard look at their batting frailties that have just followed them over from the ODI series to now the T20I opener. None, barring Aaron Finch, looked intent on playing smartly on a slowish track and kept throwing away their wickets. Once Finch fell near the half-way stage for a 30-ball 42, there was no coming back. The middle-order trio of Travis Head, Moises Henriques and Daniel Christian all fell for single-digit scores. Tim Paine struggled his way to a 16-ball 17 but that didn't provide answers for questions surrounding Australia's wicketkeeping options. When rain halted play, Australia had just 118 for 8 in 18.4 overs. When play resumed after a long intermission, they rightfully finished second-best. Nathan Coulter-Nile provided a reason for cheer with Rohit Sharma's wicket, but Virat Kohli wasn't going to fluff this chase up. Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli took the team home with three balls to spare.

Over to Virat Kohli

4913 338

Number watch

- Virat Kohli is 60 runs away from overtaking Tillakaratne Dilshan in T20I batting charts to the second place among top-scorers in the format.

-If Kohli gets a half-century,he'll become the first batsman to score five successive ones against an opponent in T20Is (Last four innings vs Australia - 90*, 59*, 50 and 82*)

Jasprit Bumrah meteoric rise

The fast bowler has had an exceptional growth in the last 20 months. And it all began against the same opposition.

News from Ranchi

There were grey clouds and threat of rain a little while ago, but the good news is that the covers from the middle have been peeled off.

Prelude - Australia's new faces against India's constants

There's such a contrast in the two dugouts ahead of the first T20I. India have carried forward more or less the same side that emerged victorious in the ODIs while Australia have flown in a host of T20 specialists who don't fit their ODI bill.. as yet. The visitors are without captain Steve Smith, but in David Warner they have a leader who is well acquainted with playing T20s in this part of the world while leading a team too.

Warner will hope he can channel his IPL self, for the 'super series' is still up for grabs. As we wait for the toss, here's Kaushik's preview of the first game in Ranchi