Australia secured victory over India at the Perth Stadium in the first ODI of the three-match series by seven wickets with 29 deliveries to spare in a match which was cut short drastically due to several delays due to rain.
With this loss, India suffered their first ODI defeat in 2025, as the Sunday, October 19 belonged to the hosts.
The Men in Blue could only muster 136/9 in 26 overs after the Aussies won the toss and put the touring side in to bat first. Apart from a couple of 30s by Axar Patel (31 off 38) and KL Rahul (38 off 31), India’s top-order put up a complete flop show. Josh Hazlewood with 2/20 in seven overs was the most economical bowler.
Australia, on the other hand, lost just three wickets in their innings. Interim ODI skipper Mitchell Marsh stayed unbeaten on 46 off 52. Josh Philippe chipped in with 37 off 29. Matt Renshaw was at the other end when the Aussies crossed the finish line, unbeaten on 21 off 24 on ODI debut, also hitting the winning runs for his side.
Talking Points:
1. Rohit-Kohli fail to fire on hyped outing
The duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were making their first appearance for India for the first time since the final of the 2025 Champions Trophy in March. While Rohit edged to second slip to depart for 8 off 14, Kohli bagged an eight-ball duck to his name, marking a low-key return in an outing of which the two were the poster boys.
2. Axar, Rahul stabilize innings after top-order falls cheaply
India were in deep trouble at 45 for the loss of four wickets at one point in the 14th over. The left-right duo of Axar and Rahul brought their side to calmer waters by absorbing the pressure and rotating the strike with decent effect in an inning that was marred by several rain interruptions.
3. Marsh leads from the front with anchoring knock
Marsh was positive right from the get-go. Despite a couple of wickets falling inside the first eight overs, Marsh stuck to his own brand of cricket and never went into a shell. His knock comprised two fours and three sixes.
Who Said What?
Shubman Gill (Losing Captain)
When you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you’re always trying to play a catch-up game (on the rain delays and the poor start). 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. We were very 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.
Mitchell Marsh (Winning Captain and Player of the Match)
The weather played its part today. Big thanks to all the crowd that stuck around. I know these days can be really frustrating, but nice to get a win. It’s always nice to win at home. I love playing for Australia. (On the run-chase) It was swinging around a little bit. We knew that was going to be the case for both teams, so a little bit of a challenge to get through there.
Proud of the way our young guys came out and took the game on and got us over. (Josh Philippe) Came out and made it look very easy, didn’t he? It’s fun to get young kids coming in. They’re not necessarily young kids, the young guys coming in. You just want them to have fun and enjoy it. In one-day cricket, we don’t get to play in front of the big crowds all the time, so I said them to really enjoy it.
India
