Jadeja and Rahul starred with the bat with crucial innings.
India lost Dhawan (1), Kohli (9), and Pandey (2) early, while Samson (23) showed sparks of brilliance. However, it was the contributions from KL Rahul (51) and Ravindra Jadeja (44*; 4 fours, 2 sixes) that took India to a defendable total of 161/7 in 20 overs.
Moises Henriques was the best Australian bowler with 3/22 in 4 overs. Starc picked two wickets, while the leg-spin duo of Zampa and Swepson picked one wicket each.
Unfortunately for India, Jadeja was hit on his helmet during the last over of their innings, and as BCCI medical team assessed him, he was replaced by Yuzvendra Chahal as a concussion substitute, much to the dislike of the Australian camp, especially coach Justin Langer.
AUS v IND 2020-21: Cricket fraternity reacts to Jadeja-Chahal concussion substitute controversy
And Chahal proved to be the difference between India winning and Australia losing, as he picked 3/25 with wickets of Finch (35), Smith (12), and Wade (7). D’Arcy Short made 34 and was looking good, but fell to a good catch by Hardik Pandya off Natarajan.
Moises Henriques made a quick 30 but was out LBW to Chahar and with him, hopes of an Australian win were extinguished. Apart from Chahal, who won the Man of the Match, T Natarajan also shined on his debut, picking 3/30, as India won the match by 11 runs.
The cricket fraternity was elated at India making a winning start to the T20I series, especially with an eye on the 2021 T20 World Cup preparations. The second T20I will be played on December 6 in Sydney.
Here are the tweets: