Reddy: India have belief we can beat any team in the world

India are riding the wave of confidence instilled by their ODI World Cup success after starting their tour of Australia in emphatic style at the SCG.

The home side were bundled out for 133, with Arundhati Reddy taking a career-best 4 for 22, and India were well ahead of the DLS target when rain halted their chase shortly after the minimum of five overs was completed.

"I think the Indian team has been playing really good cricket in the last few years," Reddy said. "We've always come very close and not won games, but I think there's a belief in the team now that we can beat anybody in this world. I think that's the confidence that helps us and we want to continue that."

Despite losing two wickets in the powerplay, Australia were handily placed on 68 for 2 after seven overs but a superb catch from captain Harmanpreet Kaur to remove Ellyse Perry off Reddy began a collapse of 8 for 65 and the last five wickets falling for 12 after a recovery between Georgia Wareham and Nicola Carey.

"Perry is a big wicket, you want to get her early and I think that catch changed the momentum for us," Reddy said. "I think they lost a couple of wickets after that. She's a wonderful fielder and obviously it's great that she took that one and gave us the momentum going ahead in the innings."

Reddy also praised the performance of Renuka Singh who bowled three overs straight in the powerplay including a maiden. "I thought she was outstanding today," she said. "To bowl a maiden … and to Phoebe Litchfield, I think that was an extraordinary over.

"Obviously she's been a quality player for India in the last quite a few years and again, she showed a lot of her experience today. Even in between, we were chatting a lot about what's the right lengths to hit on these wickets for our type of bowlers. Again, I think a lot of credit should be given to her. I think that spell was outstanding."

For Reddy herself the performance made it consecutive career-best hauls in Australia after the 4 for 26 she claimed in an ODI at the WACA in 2024 where she removed the top four of Litchfield, Perry, Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney.

"I love Australia, it's the country I enjoy the most," she said. "I think when we landed here, just the vibes I get. Growing up I used to watch a lot of Test matches, Ashes in Australia, and used to always want to come here and play cricket. Obviously I enjoy this place, last time around it was good and I've started off well and hopefully I'll continue doing it."

India have only ever won one previous bilateral series in Australia, a 2-1 T20I victory in 2016, and could secure the T20 leg of this tour in Canberra on Thursday. The overall winners will be decided by a points system across three formats with two points available in each white-ball match and four for a victory in the Test, or two for a draw.