Australia defeated India in the first T20I
match at Mohali by 4 wickets. Cameron Green was named Player of the Match for his
match-winning knock of 61 runs at the top of the order.

Earlier in the day, Australia captain Aaron
Finch won the toss and elected to field first. India openers went all guns blazing in the
powerplay. Indian captain Rohit Sharma reached yet another milestone in his T20
career as he equalled Martin Guptill for the most sixes hit by a batsman in
T20I.

Josh Hazlewood dismissed Rohit Sharma for 11 runs. Virat Kohli, after a
terrific run in the Asia Cup 2022, couldn’t make an impact. Kohli tried to smash one over mid-on and hit it
straight to Nathan Ellis.

KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav
partnership

India, after a quick start, lost wickets in quick succession. KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav joined forces and
smashed the Australian bowlers to all corners of the ground. Both the batters added
68 runs to the 3rd wicket in 42 balls and laid a perfect platform for finishers
Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik. KL Rahul returned to form scoring 55 runs in
35 balls and Suryakumar Yadav smacked a quickfire 46 runs in 25 balls smashing two fours and four sixes. 

Pandya Powers India to 208/6

Hardik Pandya came to bat in the 14th over
when the score was 126. Pandya showed the much-needed aggression that the
Indian batsman lacked in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022. In the 18th over
Pandya smashed Pay Cummins for 16 runs. Hardik ended the Indian innings with a
bang smashing a hattrick of sixes in the 20th
over. Pandya scored 70 runs in 35 balls.

Cameron Green provides syne
perfect start for Australia

Australia, after Pandya’s onslaught at the
backend of the innings, needed a quick start to chase down 208 runs. Cameron Green
took the attack to Umesh Yadav in the second over scoring four consecutive boundaries.
Aaron Finch joined from the other end and smashed 3 fours in Bhuvaneshwar
Kumar’s second over and Australia were off to a great start in the powerplay.

Axar Patel dismissed Aaron Finch in the fourth over for 22 runs. Green continued his onslaught from the other end and at the
end of the powerplay Australia were 60/1. Yuzvendra Chahal was taken to the cleaners by
Green in the seventh over who smashed him for three sixes.

Green brought up his fifty in style with a
six over wide long on.

Matthew Wade guides Australia
to Victory

At the halfway mark, Australia were at 109 and needed to score at 10 runs an over. Axar Patel struck again dismissing Cameron Green for 61
runs. In the very next over, Steve Smith was dismissed by Umesh Yadav as Smith
edged one to Dinesh Karthik. India were right back in the game with Umesh
Yadav’s double strike in the 12th over. Axar Patel came back for his final over
and added another wicket to his tally as he recorded a match figure of 3/17 in
his four overs.

Australia needed 40 runs of the final three overs and once again, death bowling was
an issue for India. Harshal Patel gave away 22 runs in the 18th over as
Australia completely turned the match in their favour. Wade smashed two sixes
and David hit one six in the 18th over.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was once again handed
the responsibility of restricting the batsman from scoring in the 19th over and
he disappointed by conceding three back-to-back fours to end the over. This was Kumar’s
worst spell in T20I’s as he gave away 52 runs in his four overs.

Pat Cummins finished the match in style
with a boundary, punching the ball through the covers. Matthew Wade
scored quick fire 45 runs in 26 balls. Australia have taken a lead of 1-0 in the 3 match T20I series.