New Delhi: India extended their domination over the hapless Australian side as they once again emerged victorious in a rain-truncated encounter at Ranchi's JSCA Stadium on Saturday. The Virat Kohli-led Men in Blue registered a comfortable nine-wicket victory via Duckworth-Lewis method in the first of the three T20I matches, thus extending their winning streak over the Aussies to seven in the shortest format of the game. ( IND vs AUS, 1st T20I: As it happened... )
Looking at the overcast conditions, Virat opted to bowl first. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided just the kind of start that the hosts required by sending back Aussie stand-in skipper David Warner in the very first over of the innings. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah bagged two wickets each as the tourists crumbled down to a score of 114 for eight before rain forced a stoppage in the 18.4 over.
After an anticipation of almost two hours, rain ceased and the game was back on with a revised target of 48 runs from six overs for India. Captain Kohli and opener Shikhar Dhawan comfortably cruised the Indian ship past the target to record a nine-wicket win in Ranchi. Rohit Sharma was the only Indian batsman to get out.
Looking at statistics, this was India's seventh straight win over Australia in the shortest format of the game. Their winning streak started with a six-wicket victory in Rajkot in a one-off T20I encounter back in 2013. The streak also includes their commendable 3-0 Aussie whitewash in their own backyard in 2016.
In fact, India stand second on the list of most successive wins against an opponent in T20Is. The Men in Blue stand alongside Pakistan (against Bangladesh from 2007 to 2014) and New Zealand (against Bangladesh from 2010 to 2017). Leading the chart are Pakistan again (against Zimbabwe from 2008 to 2015) with nine consecutive wins.
Overall, India and Australia have now met 14 times in T20Is with the former bagging 10 wins and losing four. The Men in Blue are still undefeated at home, winning all the four matches played in India. With the nine-wicket victory in Ranchi, India also joined Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka as the only teams to have registered 50 or more wins in T20Is.
The second match of the series will be played in Guwahati on Tuesday (October 10).
