Follow UsIt’s been a long time coming, nearly eight years, but the wait is finally over as Australia, for the first time ever, have won an ODI at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
It was in January 2018 that the Kangaroos played their first-ever ODI at the venue, and they lost that clash against England by 12 runs. They played two more ODIs at the venue, against South Africa in 2018 and Pakistan in 2024, and went on to lose both those games as well.
However, the wait is now over, and that’s incidentally come in Shubman Gill’s first game as captain. The Kangaroos not only ended up winning the contest but ended up winning comprehensively as they beat India by 7 wickets with 4.5 overs to spare in a rain-reduced encounter.
It was skipper Mitchell Marsh who won the toss and opted to bowl, and the Aussies were on the front foot from the get-go. India’s top three of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Gill all departed cheaply as they were reduced to 25/3 in the blink of an eye. Both rain and wickets came about frequently after that, and the visitors ended up posting 136/9 in the 26 overs they got to bat.
In response, Australia lost Travis Head in the very second over, but that didn’t matter as skipper Marsh led from the front to help his team take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Marsh was well-supported by comeback man Josh Phillipe, who smoked a brisk 37 off just 29 balls, batting at No.4, to help kill the chase.
The fact that Australia had a very inexperienced middle-order, with Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell retired and Cameron Green and Josh Inglis injured, did not matter much as the hosts got home without breaking a sweat.
The two teams will now have three days off, with the second ODI set to be played on October 23 (Thursday) at the Adelaide Oval.