Marsh secures seven-wicket canter after Starc, Hazlewood set game up

Mitchell Marsh spoiled counterpart Shubman Gill's ODI captaincy debut after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled in their much-anticipated comeback to international cricket.

On a damp day at Optus Stadium, the series-opening ODI was reduced to 26 overs per side with India making 136 for 9, after a series of rain delays frustrated the crowd of 42,423, having slumped to 45 for 4 against impressive new-ball bowling, particularly from Josh Hazlewood.

The weather did improve later in the day as Marsh's unbeaten 46 off 52 balls powered Australia past their revised target of 131 runs in the 22nd over. ODI debutant Matt Renshaw finished 21 not out - almost nine years after he made his Test debut.

There was an expectation that Marsh and fellow opener Travis Head would come out aggressively, but batting was not easy in seaming conditions under lights. Head's recent patchy form continued after slashing left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh straight to deep third, raising India's hopes.

Marsh played against type initially, scoring just a couple of singles off his first nine deliveries, until muscling Arshdeep for six over the leg-side. With his eye in, he took the aerial route to good effect and was in total command apart from copping a blow to the helmet from a Mohammed Siraj short ball.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Australia with Matt Short unable to make the most of his chance at No. 3, tamely succumbing on 8 to left-arm spinner Axar Patel who was the standout performer for India with a strong allround effort.

Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Philippe did grab his opportunity with a rollicking 37 from 29 balls in his return to the ODI team after four years having earlier performed well with the gloves.

It was a disappointing ODI return for India since their Champions Trophy triumph in March. Their batting order was not helped by numerous rain delays as the covers were used for the first time at Optus Stadium since the ground opened in 2018.

During the brief passages of play, their top order struggled to handle the back of a length bowling from Australia's trio of quicks. Much to the disappointment of the many fans wearing blue shirts in the terraces, Rohit made a scratchy 8 while Kohli fared even worse after falling for an eight-ball duck.

Hazlewood utilised the bouncy conditions to menacing effect, bowling 35 dot balls in his brilliant spell of 2 for 20 from seven overs. Left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann, who was required to operate at the death with Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc bowled out, and ODI debutant Mitchell Owen also claimed two wickets.

With menacing clouds forming above, a rarity for cricket games in usually sun-baked Perth, Marsh had no hesitation to bowl despite very little grass on the surface.

Kohli has particularly fond memories of Optus Stadium having produced one of his greatest Test tons on the ground in 2018 and he also made his final Test century there last year.

Having shown no signs of rust during India's net session ahead of the match, Kohli was pinned down by the accuracy of Hazlewood and Starc, who suckered him into a drive to catch the outside edge that was brilliantly caught at backward point by Cooper Connolly.

In likely his last game in Perth, Kohli received a standing ovation from some fans on his way to the sheds as India slumped further after Rohit had earlier been deceived by Hazlewood's sharp bounce and nicked to second slip.

A lean looking Rohit had showed off his fitness with a quick single to get off the mark. However, other than a gorgeous straight drive, he looked sluggish much like his struggles in recent days in the nets.

The pressure fell on Gill and hopes were high that he could replicate his outstanding start to his Test captaincy, which has yielded five tons from 13 innings.

Less than a week after leading India in their Test win over West Indies, Gill showed trademark class to punch a boundary down the ground off Hazlewood before having to fight hard against probing new ball bowling.

Having seen off Starc, Gill's debut captaincy knock ended with a whimper on 10 after he tickled down the leg side to gift Nathan Ellis a first ball wicket.

India were probably relieved by the persistent drizzle and for the first time since 1983 an ODI in Perth was shortened due to rain.

During a brief resumption, Shreyas Iyer gloved a well-directed short delivery from Hazlewood to the alert Philippe to leave India 45 for 4.

Further rain delays truncated the overs as Axar and KL Rahul on resumption had no choice but to stand and deliver. The pro-India crowd, muted for much of the day, suddenly came alive until Axar holed out to hand Kuhnemann his first wicket on home soil.

Despite consecutive sixes from Rahul, India fell away at the back end other than a very late flourish from Nitish Reddy in his ODI debut but it proved not nearly enough.