West Australian Mitch Marsh leads Australia to victory in first ODI against India in Perth

Hometown hero Mitch Marsh ensured Australia finally broke their Perth Stadium One-Day International hoodoo with a seven-wicket victory against India on a frustrating Sunday.

Thousands of Indian fans turned out to see Virat Kohli in what is likely to be his final international appearance in Perth as the end of his illustrious career is likely nears an end.

However, it was the Australian captain who stole the show, combining with West Australian turned New South Wales wicketkeeper Josh Philippe to launch the home side to a perfect start to a massive summer.

Unwanted rain reduced the game to 26 overs a side, with India were restricted to 9-136 after being sent into bat.

And the main event disappointed, with Kohli failing to trouble the scorers at the venue where he scored a drought-breaking Test century less than 12 months ago.

A revised target of 131 was set for Australia, which they cruised to with 29 balls to spare on the back of a 55-run third-wicket stand between Marsh and Philippe.

Marsh’s innings began with a flurry, smashing three monster sixes to signal his intent before a mixture of cramp and tight bowling had close out the match on an unbeaten 46 runs off 52 deliveries.

“It was really mature. It was a really good captain’s knock,” spinner Matthew Kuhnemann said.

“It wasn’t easy out there against the new ball as you saw in their innings and our innings so I thought the way he went about it was really mature.

“It’s really impressive to see what he did in New Zealand, to sort of play both innings — fast and slow. He’s a great leader in this team.”

Philippe made the most of a calf injury to first-choice wicketkeeper Josh Inglis to put in one of the finest performances of his limited international career, taking three catches and scoring 37 runs off only 29 deliveries.

Debutant Matt Renshaw (21 not out of 24 balls) helped Marsh close out the game, as a new-look Australian took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series which continues in Adelaide on Thursday.

Australia’s bowling attack set up the win when they ran through India’s top order before a series of rain delays heavily affected by intermittent rain.

Josh Hazlewood sent a timely reminder to the world of his class ahead of a big Ashes summer, taking 2-20 off seven overs including the big wickets of Rohit Sharma (10) and Shreyas Iyer (11).

However, it was his partner-in-crime Mitchell Starc (1-22 off six overs) who deflated the Indian dominated crowd, dismissing Kohli for an eight-ball duck.

Kohli drove hard outside his off-stump only to edge the ball to a diving Cooper Connolly at backward point, with the local taking a superb catch to silence the heavily pro-India crowd.

Captain Shubman Gill also couldn’t continue his fine form from the English summer, tickling a ball from Nathan Ellis (1-29 off five overs) down the leg side to keeper Philippe for 10.

It left India at 4-45 and struggling for momentum, as light rain persisted throughout the afternoon and caused a lot of stop-start action.

Axar Patel (31 off 38) and KL Rahul (38 off 31) did their best to fire in the middle order after the weather finally cleared, but they couldn’t see out the innings as was desperately needed.

Kuhnemann (2-26 off four overs) and debutant Mitch Owen (2-20 off three overs) were disciplined with their lengths to block off the shorter boundary which was straight down the ground.

Indian debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy (19 not out) hit a couple of late sixes to give the visitors some momentum heading into the innings break but they were well short of a defendable total.

Australia’s chase began promisingly when Travis Head hit two boundaries in the first over to signal his intent as the hosts looked for a quick victory.

Head’s exuberance would be his downfall, chasing an Arshdeep Singh (1-31 off five overs) outswinger well away from his body only to slice it to deep third for only eight.

Matt Short (eight off 17) struggled for timing at first drop and was caught at short third trying to force the issue off Patel (1-19 off four overs).

It brought Philippe to the crease, who found good rhythm with Marsh to really break the back of the run chase before he tried one too many big shorts and was caught in the deep off Washington Sundar (1-14 off two overs) just short of his highest ODI score.

Renshaw then showed great skill and temperament in the tough batting conditions to partner Marsh to the target, handing the new-look Australian team an important win.

It ended an eight-match ODI winning streak for India, who came up against an Australian side with several key players missing because of injury and personal reasons.

“When you come up against a team like this and especially a home series to start the summer off, it means heaps,” Kuhnemann said.

“The boys put a lot of effort in at training and I think you saw that today.

“It’s a massive summer ahead.”

Kuhnemann is likely to miss out in the next game however, with first-choice limited overs spinner Adam Zampa set to be available.

“I am used to it. I’ve been travelling with the red ball team and running drinks there, just learning my way,” he said.

“I love travelling with this team and you never know when conditions might suit two spinners.

“I am always happy to be a part of this team, learning and growing as a player.”