India beat Australia by 11 runs to go 1-0 up in the T20I series.
India began the three-match T20I series against Australia on a winning note by 11 runs in the 1st T20I at Canberra on Friday (December 4). Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Only KL Rahul (51) and Sanju Samson (23) could put up sizeable contributions upfront for India, with Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey falling in single digits. It was once again upto all-rounders Hardik Pandya (16) and Ravindra Jadeja to rectify the situation, and the latter delivered with an unbeaten 44 off 23 balls to help India finish with a competitive total of 161/7 on a two-paced pitch.
For Australia, all-rounder Moises Henriques took 3 wickets, while Mitchell Starc picked up two wickets. The wrist-spinners Adam Zampa and Mitchell Swepson grabbed one wicket each.
Ravindra Jadeja who had hurt his hamstring trying to run a quick double, was hit by Starc in the final over of the innings, which resulted in India asking the match-referee David Boon for Yuzvendra Chahal as concussion substitute. The request was approved much to the dismay of Australian coach Justin Langer who had an animated conversation with Boon.
WATCH - Irked Langer gets into argument with Boon after Chahal replaces Jadeja
Aaron Finch (35) and D'Arcy Short (34) put on a 56-run stand for the first wicket before Chahal made an immediate impact on the game by dismissing the Australian captain. He then picked up the wickets of Steve Smith and Matthew Wade, as the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Henriques scored 30 but it was too tough a task for him to do it all alone with the pitch slowing up.
Debutant T Natarajan impressed everyone again and picked three wickets to end any hopes that Australia had of a win. Washington Sundar did not get a wicket but conceded just 16 runs off his 4 overs. India wrapped up a 11-run win in the end, their ninth in last ten matches with one game washed out without a ball being bowled.
Here's how the Indian team reacted to their superb victory on Twitter: