"Never easy when you lose three wickets in powerplay": Gill after India's loss to Australia at Perth

Perth [Australia], October 19 (ANI): Following his side's loss to Australia in the first ODI of the three match series, Indian skipper Shubman Gill expressed how the team had to play "catch-up" after losing early wickets in the powerplay, but said some "learnings and positives" as well with the team managing to take the game deep while defending 131 runs in 26 overs.

The return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (Ro-Ko) fell flat, and frequent rain-breaks dampened the excitement, reducing the amount of action as Aussie stand-in skipper Mitchell Marsh top-scored with 46* in Australia's successful run-chase of 131 runs well before 26 overs at Perth on Sunday.

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Gill said, "Never easy when you lose three wickets in the powerplay, you are always trying to play catch-up. There were a lot of learnings and positives as well. Defending 131 in 26 odd overs, we took the game pretty deep, so we are satisfied with that."

On the huge crowd support for India, Gill said, "We are very fortunate. The fans turned up in huge numbers, and hopefully they will be able to cheer us on at Adelaide as well."

Coming to the match, India was put to bowl first by Australia after winning the toss. The top-order of Rohit Sharma (8), skipper Shubman Gill (10), Virat Kohli (0) and Shreyas Iyer (11) struggled against Mitchell Starc (1/22) and Josh Hazlewood (2/20).

Team India's rhythm was disrupted by numerous rain breaks, and the match was eventually converted to a 26-overs-per-side match. However, a 39-run stand between KL Rahul (38 in 31 balls, with two fours and a six) and Axar Patel (31 in 38 balls, with three fours) proved to be a breather. KL took India past the 100-run mark, pairing up with Washington Sundar. It was Nitish Kumar Reddy (19* in 11 balls, with two fours) who took India to 136/9 in 26 overs.

Mitchell Owen and Matthew Kuhnemann also took two wickets.

In Australia's run chase of 131 runs, their revised target as per the DLS Method, India got Travis Head (8) early. However, Marsh (46 in 52 balls, with two fours and three sixes), Josh Phillipe (37 in 29 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Matt Renshaw (21* in 24 balls, with a four and a six) made sure that Australia did not face much issues in their chase, chasing the total down in 21.1 overs with seven wickets in hand. (ANI)

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