Adelaide:&nbsp;Virat Kohli slammed an unbeaten 90&nbsp;before a collective effort by the Indian bowlers gave the&nbsp;visitors a resounding start in the Twenty20 cricket series&nbsp;against Australia with a 37-run victory in the first match&nbsp;here today.
The in-form Kohli faced 55 balls in his whirlwind knock,&nbsp;which was laced by nine fours and two sixes, to give India a&nbsp;respectable total of 188 for three after being put into bat at&nbsp;the Adelaide Oval.
The Indians then bundled the hosts for 151 in 19.3 overs&nbsp;to record only their second win on the tour so far, with two&nbsp;more T20 matches in Melbourne (January 29) and Sydney (January&nbsp;31) remaining. The win was certainly an ideal Republic Day&nbsp;gift for the Indian fans.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jan/meninblue.jpg" alt="Team India celebrates the fall of an Australian wicket" /> Team India celebrates the fall of an Australian wicket. Pic/AP/PTI
Chasing 189, Australia got off to a rollicking start with&nbsp;Aaron Finch (44 runs, 33 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) and David&nbsp;Warner (17) plundering runs off Ashish Nehra (1-30) and&nbsp;Ravichandran Ashwin's (2-28) first over.
The score read 34 for no loss at the end of three overs,&nbsp;when Jasprit Bumrah (3-23) was brought into the attack. He&nbsp;bowled well to apply brakes, giving away only 3 runs in his&nbsp;first over, and then removing Warner in the sixth over, caught&nbsp;at mid-on.
The Australian 50-mark came up later in that over, as&nbsp;Steve Smith (21) joined Finch in the middle and the duo added&nbsp;42 runs for the 2nd wicket, looking in control. They were&nbsp;harsh on debutant Hardik Pandya (2-37) who was taken for 19&nbsp;runs in his first over in international cricket, inclusive of&nbsp;five wides.
But Ravindra Jadeja (2-21) bowled superbly in the middle&nbsp;overs, dismissing Smith in the ninth over, caught at mid-on.&nbsp;
The initiative was wrested back to India when Ashwin&nbsp;returned to trap Finch LBW in the 10th over, and when Jadeja&nbsp;did the same to Travis Head (2) in the next over, the Men in&nbsp;Blue were well on top as Australia had lost three wickets for&nbsp;four runs, crossing the 100-mark in the 12th over.
The run-rate was getting ahead of the hosts at that&nbsp;stage, and while Shane Watson (12) hit a couple lusty blows to&nbsp;calm the dressing room, they needed a few more of those and he&nbsp;was dismissed going for a big one against Ashwin, caught by&nbsp;Nehra at short fine leg.
It was left to Chris Lynn (17) to come up with some big&nbsp;hits like he did in the Big Bash League, but Dhoni threw the&nbsp;ball to Pandya for one more go. And the youngster delivered&nbsp;this time around, snapping up both Lynn and Matthew Wade (5)&nbsp;in two balls, across the 15th and 17th overs respectively, to&nbsp;revive his night.&nbsp;
Earlier, India batsman Virat Kohli struck&nbsp;an unbeaten 55-ball 90 to help India post a challenging 188&nbsp;for three against Australia in the first Twenty20&nbsp;International here today.&nbsp;
Put into bat at the Adelaide Oval, Kohli notched up his&nbsp;highest score in this format and put on 134 runs for the third&nbsp;wicket with Suresh Raina (41 runs, 34 balls, 3 fours, 1 six)&nbsp;to dominate the Australian attack.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jan/kohli-t20.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" />Virat Kohli celebrates his fifty during the T20 International match against Australia in Adelaide, Australia, on Tuesday. Pic/AP/PTI
Opener Rohit Sharma (31 runs, 20 balls, 4 fours, 1 six)&nbsp;set the ball rolling with a four and a six in the first over&nbsp;bowled by Shaun Tait (0-45). Thanks to Rohit, the run-rate&nbsp;shot up easily, with ten-per-over coming easily in the first&nbsp;four overs even as Shikhar Dhawan (5) was out early.&nbsp;
Cameron Boyce dropped Rohit in the 4th over, but it&nbsp;didn't cost Australia too much. Shane Watson (2-24) struck in&nbsp;the very next over as Rohit departed after an explosive start,&nbsp;caught at mid on. It became a double blow for India as Dhawan&nbsp;played an ugly shot four balls later, off a bouncer, only to&nbsp;be caught behind.
Kohli and Raina came together then, and went about&nbsp;rebuilding the Indian innings. They kept up the tempo&nbsp;initially, taking advantage of the power play overs as the 50-mark came up in the 6th over.
Indeed for the first nine overs, the Men in Blue were&nbsp;scoring at over eight-per-over, but Watson and Boyce (0-23)&nbsp;had managed to pull things back a bit, despite Kohli hitting&nbsp;out against the leg-spinner.
Their 50-partnership came up in the 12th over, off 39&nbsp;balls, while Kohli reached his 10th T20I half-century off only&nbsp;32 balls in the 14th over. There was an urgent need to up the&nbsp;scoring thereafter, but early on Raina looked rusty in his&nbsp;shot making even as his partner had no difficulty in finding&nbsp;the gaps.
India had reached the 100-mark in the 13th over and Kohli&nbsp;brought out the big guns thereafter, attacking the bowlers and&nbsp;picking boundaries at ease, thus crossing his highest&nbsp;individual score in T20I cricket.
The 150-mark came up in the 18th over as there was an&nbsp;urgency outlined by both the batsmen. The score read 160 for&nbsp;two at the end of the 18th over. Raina was finally bowled in&nbsp;the final over by James Faulkner (1-43).
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (11 not out) marched to the&nbsp;crease then, and smacked a six and a four straight away, as 28&nbsp;runs came off the final two overs.
Earlier, the hosts handed Travis Head his debut, while&nbsp;Chris Lynn, Watson and Tait returned to the international&nbsp;fold. India too brought in Hardik Pandya for his international&nbsp;debut, while Jasprit Bumrah was handed his first T20I cap.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra.
Australia: Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Chris Lynn, Travis Head, Watson, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Cameron Boyce, Shaun Tait.

Virat Kohli slammed an unbeaten 90&nbsp;before a collective effort by the Indian bowlers gave the&nbsp;visitors a resounding start in the Twenty20 series&nbsp;against Australia with a 37-run victory in the first match

1st T20I: Kohli, bowlers script India's 37-run win over Australia as R-Day gift

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / 1st T20I: Kohli, bowlers script India's 37-run win over Australia as R-Day gift

1st T20I: Kohli, bowlers script India's 37-run win over Australia as R-Day gift

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