Shubman Gill lost his first ODI as captain of the ODI team, as Australia defeated India by seven wickets in a rain-hit opening match of the series at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh was the star batter for Australia, scoring an unbeaten 46, which guided his team to victory under the DLS method.
Reflecting on the defeat during the post–match presentation, Gill said, “When you lose three wickets in the power play, you’re always trying to play catch-up (on the poor start). A lot of learnings for us from this game and a lot of positives as well. We were defending 130 and we took the game, not till the very end, but pretty deep. We were satisfied with that.
“We are very fortunate (on the crowd support). The fans turned up in huge numbers and hopefully they’ll be able to cheer us on at Adelaide as well.”
Batting first, India’s batting collapsed early. Rohit Sharma (8), Gill (10), and Virat Kohli (0) lost their wickets during the powerplay, which left India at 25 for three. Australia’s bowlers made full use of the extra bounce, as Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc troubled the top-order. Hazlewood, Mitchell Owen and Matthew Kuhnemann got two wickets each.
Though Travis Head and Matthew Short lost their wickets early, Australia chased the target easily. Marsh along with Josh Philippe (37) and Matt Renshaw (21 not out) guided Australia home. Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar managed to take one wicket each.
India’s eight-match winning streak in 2025 has ended. The next ODI will be played at Adelaide on October 23. Sydney hosts the third and final match on October 25.
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