Ranchi T20: India beat Australia by 9 wickets, lead series 1-0

Ranchi: Continuing their winning spree, the men in blue outclassed Australia by 9 wickets in the rain-hit first T20 of the three-match series at the iconic JSCA stadium here on Saturday night.

With rains playing spoilsport at MS Dhoni's hometown, hosts India were handed a revised 49-run target in six overs which the Virat Kohli-led side achieved with ease with three balls to spare.

Chasing the target, India lost opener Rohit Sharma (11) in the second over but Shikar Dhawan and skipper Kohli ensured to guide their team home comfortably.

While Dhawan remained unbeaten on 15, Kohli was not out on 22.After this win, the men in blue have taken a 1-0 lead in the series and will lock horns again in the second match in Guwahati.

Earlier in the evening, a disciplined bowling from India restricted Australia to a paltry 118/8 in the rain-hit first match of the T20 series.The Australian innings was declared complete at 18.4 overs when the play stopped following heavy rains.

Put into bat after losing the toss, the visitors never looked in control on a typical slow Ranchi wicket and kept on receiving blows at regular intervals.The kangaroos received a jolt early in the game when pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar striked in the very first over to dismiss a good looking David Warner (8).

The fall of Warner saw Glenn Maxwell joining opener Aaron Finch and the duo stiched a crucial 47-run partnership for the second wicket.Just when things seemed under control for Australia as they surpassed the 50-run mark, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Maxwell (17) in the seventh over to put the opponents on back foot.

Situation continued to worsen for the visitors as couple of overs later, leggie Kuldeep Yadav applied brakes on an aggressive Finch's innings, who had already smashed 42 off 30 ball with the help of four boundaries and one six.With Australia reeling at 76/3 in 9.5 overs, the Indian bowlers took full advantage of the wicket and conditions and didn't let any Aussie batsman get settled in the middle.

The visitors could manage to add only 42 runs in the next 8.5 overs losing another five wickets before rain interrupted play.For India, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah picked up couple of wickets each while Bhuvaneshwar, Hardik Pandya and Chahal bagged a wicket apiece. (UNI)