1st T20I: Kohli and spinners help India to crush Australia by 37 runs Scorecard

It’s been all-round performance by the Indian team to beat Australia by 37 runs in the first T20 to take 1-0 lead in the 3 march series at Adelaide Oval. After Kohli’s quick fire half-century, both the spinner R Ashwin and Jadeja tangled the Aussies in the middle overs. Bumrah and debutant Pandya also played their part. 

Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bowl against India in the first Twenty20 International here today.

LIVE Scorecard

Earlier, Put into bat at the Adelaide Oval, Kohli notched up his highest score in this format and put on 134 runs for the third wicket with Suresh Raina (41 runs, 34 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) to dominate the Australian attack.

Opener Rohit Sharma (31 runs, 20 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) set the ball rolling with a four and a six in the first over bowled by Shaun Tait (0-45). Thanks to Rohit, the run-rate shot up easily, with ten-per-over coming easily in the first four overs even as Shikhar Dhawan (5) was out early.

Cameron Boyce dropped Rohit in the 4^th over, but it didn’t cost Australia too much. Shane Watson (2-24) struck in the very next over as Rohit departed after an explosive start, caught at mid on. It became a double blow for India as Dhawan played an ugly shot four balls later, off a bouncer, only to be caught behind.

Kohli and Raina came together then, and went about rebuilding the Indian innings. They kept up the tempo initially, taking advantage of the power play overs as the 50 -mark came up in the 6^th over.