India defeated Australia by 9 wickets in a rain-reduced match at JSCA Stadium, Ranchi just finished a few moments ago. Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field. Aaron Finch played with positive intent scoring 42 but the rest of batsmen could not contribute much as Australia were restricted to 118 for 8 in 18.4 overs. India was given a target of 48 in 6 overs and chased down the target with ease.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field at Ranchi. Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Australian opener David Warner in the very first over for 8 runs. Aaron Finch looked in excellent touch with attacking strokeplay. After first 6 overs, Australia were 49 for 1. Yuzvendra Chahal again dismissed Glenn Maxwell soon after the powerplay overs for 17 runs. The Indian bowlers continued their excellent run with both spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav troubling the Australian batsmen again.
Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Daniel Christian, Nathan Coulter Nile all went in quick succession. The wicketkeeper Tim Paine made 17 runs in 16 balls. In the 19th over, rain arrived with the score at 118 for 8. It was again a disappointing performance by the Australian batsmen who looked out of sorts against Indian spinners. Jasprit Bumrah was brilliant again during death overs taking 2 wickets for 17 runs in 3.4 overs.
India was given a target of 48 runs in 6 overs after rain arrived. The powerplay overs were reduced to 2 overs. Rohit Sharma played 2 big strokes hitting one boundary and 1 six before being dismissed by Nathan Coulter Nile for 11 runs. Both Kohli and Dhawan played with positive intent. India required 6 off the last over and captain Kohli hit the winning run.
Men in Blue won the match by 9 wickets with 3 balls to spare.  It was India’s 7th successive win over Australia in T20I format.
India 49 for 1 in 5.3 overs ( Virat Kohli 22*, Shikhar Dhawan 15*) beat Australia 118 for 8 in 18.4 overs ( Aaron Finch 42, Jasprit Bumrah 2/17, Kuldeep Yadav 2/16) by 9 wickets via D/L method
Captain Kohli said: The bowlers did a great job for us with Kuldeep Yadav and Chahal coming back into the game with wickets in the middle overs. Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been outstanding in limited overs format. Dhawan missed a lot of games and the 15 runs will give him confidence going into coming matches.
Man of the match Kuldeep Yadav said: I am thinking of wickets all the time which matters for me and my team. It is my first man of the match award in T20I’s and would love to contribute in coming matches.
India takes a 1-0 lead in the series. The second match will take place at Guwahati on 10th October.
