Australia captain held his nerve through several rain delays in the field before belting 46 in a comfortable seven-wicket victory
Amid a vein of form that has put him back in the Ashes conversation, Mitch Marsh has produced another match-winning hand to lift Australia to a series opening ODI victory over top-ranked India.
After an unseasonally damp Perth afternoon forced the players from the field four times during India’s innings, the Aussie skipper was flawless under lights as the hosts cantered to their target of 131 with 29 balls to spare.
Marsh took some time to find the pace of his hometown pitch but two massive bombs over cover, the first of which saw Mohammed Siraj deposited 94m into the first row, got Australia’s chase off and running.
India had earlier posted 9-136 from their reduced 26 overs at Perth Stadium after being sent by Marsh, but the loss of four early wickets resulted in a six-run reduction to Australia’s target.
Such is Perth’s reputation as a city where it never rains in summer, Sunday’s first ODI was the first time the covers had ever been used during an international match at the Burswood venue since it opened in 2018.
More to come.
Australia XI: Mitch Marsh (c), Travis Head, Matt Short, Josh Philippe (wk), Matthew Renshaw, Cooper Connolly, Mitch Owen, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
India XI: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
Australia v India ODIs 2025
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc. Game two onwards: Adam Zampa, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis
India squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal
October 19: First ODI v India, Perth Stadium, Perth, 2:30pm AEDT
October 23: Second ODI v India, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 2:30pm AEDT
October 25: Third ODI v India, SCG, Sydney, 2:30pm AEDT
All matches live via Kayo Sports and Foxtel
