Australia-India first T20 washed out due to rain

WEB DESK: The opening T20 International between Australia and India was called off due to persistent rain on Wednesday.

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and chose to bowl first in the opening T20I against India in Canberra, continuing his side’s preference for chasing in the format. The play was halted after just five overs because of rain. The match later resumed with each innings reduced to 18 overs.

However, only 9.4 overs of India’s innings were possible before rain returned, forcing officials to abandon the match.

When play was stopped for the second time, India had scored 97 for the loss of one wicket. Suryakumar Yadav was unbeaten on 39, while Shubman Gill was not out on 37. Abhishek Sharma was the lone batter to fall, dismissed by Nathan Ellis for 19.

The second match of the five-match T20 series will be played in Melbourne on October 31.

Australia made several changes, with Matt Kuhnemann replacing Adam Zampa, who is unavailable for personal reasons. Fast bowler Sean Abbott was left out, while Xavier Bartlett and Nathan Ellis joined Josh Hazlewood, who will only feature in the first two matches before preparing for the Ashes.

For India, skipper Suryakumar Yadav expressed confidence in batting first and retained the spin-heavy combination from the Asia Cup final, including Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy. Jasprit Bumrah leads the pace attack alongside Harshit Rana.

Allrounder Nitish Reddy remains sidelined for the first three games due to neck spasms aggravating his earlier thigh injury.

Australia’s lineup also misses Cameron Green (domestic commitments), Glenn Maxwell (wrist injury, expected to return for Game 3), and Matt Short (finger surgery). Josh Philippe returns to T20I action for the first time since 2023.