Skipper Virat Kohli played a handy cameo after yet another impressive show by the bowling unit as India comfortably beat Australia by nine wickets in a rain-curtailed opening T20 International, in Ranchi, on Saturday.
It was the seventh consecutive win for India in the shortest format having last lost against Australia, way back in 2012, in the ICC World T20, in Dhaka.
Australia's batting woes continued as they once again failed to read Kuldeep Yadav's spin and also struggled against Jasprit Bumrah's pace as they finished on a below-par 118 for 8 in 18.4 overs.
Following a lengthy rain break, India were set a revised target of 48 in six overs via the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Skipper Kohli's 14-ball-22 had three boundaries and Shikhar Dhawan also hit three boundaries in his unbeaten 15 as they cruised to the target in 5.3 overs, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Rohit Sharma hit debutant left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff for a boundary and flicked nathan Coulter-Nile for a six beforte being cleaned up by the latter.
However, the third over bowled by Andrew Tye proved to be a decisive one as Dhawan and Kohli got a boundary each to get 11 runs to take control of the match.
After that it became a cakewalk for the hosts as Coulter-Nile's next over produced nine runs.
With six needed off the final over bowled by Dan Christian, Kohli smacked the third delivery for a boundary to finish it off in style.
Ear;oer, Kuldeep finished with impressive figures of two for 16 in 4 overs, complemented well by Bumrah's two for 17 in three overs. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who claimed one for 23 in four overs also played his part to perfection.
Australia lost David Warner early before they recovered to race to 50 in the seventh over.
Warner hit Bhuvneshwar for a couple of boundaries before he was bowled off an inside edge in the very first over.
Aaron Finch, who hit a quickfire 42 from 30 balls, revived Australia briefly with a few boundaries but Glenn Maxwell struggled at the other end.
Leg-spinner Chahal provided the vital breakthrough, dismissing his bunny Glenn Maxwell for a fourth time in four games as the Australian pulled a short ball straight into the hands of Bumrah at midwicket.
Kuldeep then weaved his magic as he dismissed Aaron Finch (42) and Moises Henriques (8) in successive overs.
It was Finch's dismissal that brought about Australia's downfall.
The right-hander looked in fine form, hitting four boundaries and one six, and looked to disrupt Kuldeep's rhythm with regular sweep shots.
But Kuldeep foxed the Australian opener with a full delivery as he tried to hit it across the line on the leg side but was bowled.
The wicket virtually sent alarm bells ringing in the Australians camp as Yadav and Chahal went through the middle overs restricting their flow of runs before Bumrah's twin bursts in the 18th over.
However, rain disrupted play in the 19th over forcing the two teams back into the dressing room.
