Perth, Oct 19 (IANS) KL Rahul’s 38 off 31 balls, supported by Axar Patel’s 31 and debutant Nitish Reddy’s late flourish helped India post 136/9 in a rain-marred 26-over innings after the top order collapsed in the opening ODI against Australia at the Optus Stadium on Sunday.

With the DLS method coming in, Australia need 131 runs to win in 26 overs.

The 50-over-a-side game was reduced to 26 overs per innings after multiple rain interruptions led to the match being delayed. To start with, the hosts put on a brilliant performance with the ball after winning the toss.

Josh Hazlewood handed his side an early breakthrough when he dismissed India’s ODI returnee Rohit Sharma for a 14-ball eight. The celebrations in the Australian camp doubled, with Mitchell Starc dismissing India’s second returnee, Virat Kohli and Nathan Ellis picking out the newly appointed skipper, Shubman Gill.

The Indian batters struggled to find momentum after their top order collapsed and faced difficulties in getting the scorecard ticking amid excessive rain interruptions.

Hazlewood scalped a second wicket when he dismissed Shreyas Iyer, just as the latter had started to find his rhythm. Overall, including domestic matches, this marked the seventh time in 13 innings that Hazlewood dismissed Iyer.

After a fourth rain delay, the Indian dugout finally found some respite thanks to KL Rahul and Axar Patel’s stroke play. Before Axar’s unfortunate dismissal, the all-rounder notched up 31 runs off 38 deliveries to help the struggling Indian side get close to a three-figure mark on the scoreboard.

Wicketkeeper-batter Rahul showed no mercy when the innings inched close to an end and hit Matthew Short for a couple of sixes in the 21st over as India got past the 100-run tally.

Playing in tricky conditions that favoured the bowlers more, Rahul received some help from Washington Sundar in the middle, but the latter was soon sent back to the pavilion when Matthew Kuhnemann struck in the 24th over.

Debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy joined Rahul as the two looked to take the innings to a solid end, but the latter’s knock was cut short by Mitch Owen. Harshit Rana, too, was dismissed on just the second ball that he faced as the Aussie debutant picked up two in his over.

In the final over, Arshdeep Singh was run out, but Reddy made the most of the remaining balls in an attempt to increase the team’s final total and hit two sixes as India finished India innings at 136/9.

Brief Scores: India 136/9 in 26 overs (DLS method) (KL Rahul 38, Axar Patel 31; Josh Hazlewood 2-20, Matthew Kuhnemann 2-26) against Australia.

–IANS

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