India beat Australia by nine wickets in rain-affected first T20I in Ranchi
Sunday 15 October 2017 16:11, UK
India were triumphant in an entertaining rain-affected T20 international to take a 1-0 lead in their three-match series with Australia in Ranchi.
The tourists struggled to 118-8 from 18.4 overs before the weather delayed the match for nearly two hours, to leave India with a revised target of 48 from six overs.
Captain Virat Kohli then sealed a nine-wicket victory with three deliveries remaining via the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Opener Aaron Finch hit 42 off 30 balls to give Australia a solid platform at the top of the order but wickets kept falling on a regular basis.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav and seamer Jasprit Bumrah both took two wickets apiece as they made inroads on the Australia batting line-up as Glenn Maxwell and Tim Paine were the only other batsmen to reach double figures, both hitting 17 off 16 deliveries.
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Rohit Sharma began the reply with a four off Australian debutant Jason Behrendorff but he was soon back in the pavilion for 11 after he was clean bowled by Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Shikhar Dhawan remained at the crease to finish with a patient 15 as Kohli hit a quickfire 22 to give India the advantage ahead of the second T20 in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Watch the second T20I between India and Australia, live on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404) from 2.20pm on Tuesday.
