India defeated Australia by 11 runs in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series on Friday. After KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja led India to a competitive total of 161 for seven, the bowlers, especially T Natarajan and Yuzvendra Chahal, helped the visitors restrict Australia to 150/7. Chahal, who came in as a substitute for Jadeja’s concussion, was chosen by the Indian bowlers. The leg shooter returned three times 25 of his quota of four overs.
Chasing 162, Australia got off to a solid start with Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short scoring freely on the power play.
Finch was sent back in the eighth by Chahal when he holed out Hardik Pandya at length.
The leg-spinner struck again on his next over and eliminated fit Steve Smith as Sanju Samson completed an excellent catch on the bottom.
Rookie T Natarajan then caught Glenn Maxwell off the stumps with a long ball that returned.
After Maxwell’s firing, the host hitters continued to lose ground at regular intervals and eventually fell 11 runs short of the 162-run goal.
Earlier in the game, Aaron Finch had won the toss and invited India to bat.
India lost their first wicket in the third when Mitchell Starc cleared Shikhar Dhawan for one.
Virat Kohli (9) also missed with the bat and was outscored by Mitchell Swepson.
KL Rahul made it to half a century, but the middle order failed to capitalize. Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya were unable to continue.
Promoted
Jadeja played an undefeated crucial shot of 44 in just 23 deliveries. His entries included five limits and six.
Both teams will now travel to Sydney for the remaining two T20I.
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