Australia foil RoKo show to etch seven-wicket win over India in 1st ODI
Perth (PTI): The grand comeback party of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma endured a quick 22-ball ending, and their lowkey outing reflected in India’s seven-wicket defeat against Australia in the rain-affected first ODI here on Sunday.
Asked to bat first, India laboured to a sub-par 136 for 9, after the match was revised to 26 overs for a side courtesy several rain interruptions, leaving the hosts to chase a DLS target of 131, which they duly reached in 21.1 overs.
Travis Head fell to Arshdeep Singh early, slashing the left-arm pacer to Harshit Rana at deep third man, and Matthew Short too walked back without any significant contribution.
But skipper and local man Mitchell Marsh (46 not out, 52 balls) used his brute power to keep Australia ahead of the curve with a crucial 55-run partnership with Josh Philippe (37, 29b).
The Indian pacers — Arshdeep, Mohammad Siraj and Harshit Rana — could not replicate the control of their Australian counterparts, offering plenty of freebies to the hosts’ batters.
Marsh fed on them with glee, crunching a six each of all three. An inside-out smash off Siraj over covers was the highlight.
Philippe gave his captain ample support with a busy knock, and his dismissal was a minor irritant in Australia’s march, which culminated in them taking 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
No Ro-Ko show
Earlier, India were robbed of the momentum by the constant weather interventions and relentless Australian new ball bowlers, except when KL Rahul (38, 30 balls) was in the middle.
But before the skies opened up on several occasions, Australian bowlers used the extra bounce on the Optus Stadium pitch to get rid of two old foes. Rohit (8), who was also playing his 500th match for India, walked in alongside new captain Shubman Gill to loud cheers from the Perth crowd, but his stay was snapped after just 14 balls.
Rohit played a sumptuous straight drive off Mitchell Starc, which offered a heady time ride back to the glory days.
But that was it for the day for the Mumbai man, as Josh Hazlewood's ability to find steep bounce from the quarter length ended his tenure. The ever-rising ball kissed the sticker of Rohit’s bat and travelled to debutant Matthew Renshaw at second slip.
Kohli walked in amid even louder cheer, but the familiar ODI greatness was nowhere to be seen. In a pre-match chat, Kohli had detailed how Australia had often brought the best out of him as a batter.
But on this instance, Starc elicited the worst out of Kohli — first through a habitual prod outside the off-stump. It eventually consumed Kohli. A drive on the up off the left-arm pacer took the edge of his bat and Cooper Connolly at backward point snaffled a wonderful catch to curtail Kohli's agonising eight-ball innings.
It was Kohli's first duck in Australia. Now, the veterans need something substantial in the subsequent ODIs at Adelaide and Sydney to convince the powers that be of their fire for a longer journey.
Unlike his senior colleagues, skipper Gill looked assured but a rather casual attempt to flick Nathan Ellis resulted in a down the leg side catch to wicketkeeper Philippe.
Vice-captain Shreyas Iyer perished in the same way. Hazlewood strangled him for space with a bouncer on ribcage that Iyer gloved to Philippe as India slid to 45 for four in the 14th over.
Finally, India found their wheels moving through a 39-run fifth-wicket alliance between Axar Patel (31) and Rahul before the former fell to spinner Matthew Kuhnemann. Rahul was quite impressive in his knock, dealing with the bounce effectively while getting on top of the ball nicely.
The straight drive and pull off Ellis off successive balls for fours were from the top draw. Rahul slipped into overdrive once spinners were introduced, and slammed Matthew Short for two sixes in a row.
Rahul and Washington Sundar added 30 runs for the sixth wicket. But the limited number of overs and late flurry of wickets affected India's acceleration in the backend.
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Rupee falls 5 paise to close at 89.94 against US dollar after RBI cuts repo rate
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee on Friday gave up its initial gains and settled for the day lower by 5 paise at 89.94 (provisional) against US dollar, after the Reserve Bank cut key benchmark interest rate for the first time in six months.
Forex traders said the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) rate cut will weigh on the rupee, but RBI's decision to purchase government bonds worth up to Rs 1 lakh crore through open market operations (OMO), combined with a USD 5 billion buy-sell swap, will support the local currency.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 89.85 against the US dollar and gained ground, touching 89.69 in morning deals, registering a 20-paise gain from its previous close.
After the RBI's monetary policy announcement, the rupee lost ground and fell to 90.06 against the American currency, a 16-paise decline from its previous close of 89.89. The currency is down almost 5 per cent against the dollar this year, the worst performer in Asia.
The local unit finally settled for the day lower by 5 paise at 89.94 (provisional) against the American currency.
"Beyond the rate cut, RBI's decision to purchase government bonds worth up to Rs 1 lakh crore through OMO, combined with a USD 5 billion buy-sell swap, marks a decisive effort to restore durable liquidity and stabilize currency markets after the rupee's sharp depreciation," said Sachin Bajaj, Executive Vice President & Chief Investment Officer, Axis Max Life Insurance.
The RBI on Friday cut the key benchmark interest rate for the first time in six months and took steps to boost liquidity to support a "goldilocks" economy amid high US tariffs.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the central bank does not target any band for the rupee in the forex market, and allows the domestic currency to find its own correct level.
"We don't target any price levels or any bands. We allow the markets to determine the prices. We believe that markets, especially in the long run, are very efficient. It's a very deep market," he said while replying to a question on rupee depreciation at a post-monetary policy press meet.
Malhotra said fluctuations in the market keep occurring, and the RBI's effort is always to reduce any abnormal or excessive volatility. "And that is what we will continue to endeavour," he added.
In its bi-monthly monetary policy, the RBI announced three-year USD/INR Buy Sell swaps of USD 5 billion this month. When asked if this is aimed at checking rupee depreciation, Malhotra said, "It is a liquidity measure. It is not to support the rupee".
The governor further said the country has sufficient foreign exchange reserves and that the current account is manageable, and that, given the strong fundamentals of the economy, the country should witness strong capital flows going forward.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03 per cent lower at 98.96.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.02 per cent to USD 63.27 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 447.05 points to settle at 85,712.37, while the Nifty climbed 152.70 points to 26,186.45.
Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 1,944.19 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.
