The first India vs Australia ODI was interrupted twice by rain after the departure of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and the captain, Shubman Gill on low scores.
The second rain delay was particularly quite extensive, and has now resulted in the match being reduced to just 35 overs per innings. The Men in Blue are currently at 37/3 in 11.5 overs.
Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel will take guard when play resumes. India will have to pick up the pace a bit, while not giving away wickets cheaply if they want to post a respectable total on the board.
India Off To A Rough Start Against Australia
There was a lot of buzz leading up to this match as the biggest stars of Indian cricket in the modern era, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, were returning to action.
However, the celebrations were cut after the former skipper departed on just 8 runs after facing 14 balls.
While fans would have certainly hoped for a much better outing from Kohli, he departed without scoring any runs, edging his eighth delivery off Mitchell Starc.
As mentioned earlier, Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer, who is the vice captain, will have the responsibility to provide a positive start to the innings post the lengthy rain delay.
On the other hand, the Aussie bowlers like Starc, Nathan Ellis, and Josh Hazlewood would look to build further pressure and take the lead in this three-match ODI series.
India vs Australia: Today’s Playing XI
IND – Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
AUS – Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Short, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitchell Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Khunemann, Josh Hazlewood
Also Check: ‘Ruined Our Sunday’: Memes Galore As Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Fail To Fire With The Bat
