Iyer, Gill take India to 79/1 against Australia before rain stops play in Indore

Indore, Sep 24 (IANS) Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill delighted the Sunday crowd at Holkar Stadium with their scintillating strokeplay in the second wicket stand of 63 off 37 balls, before play stopped due to rain in the second ODI against Australia.

As of now, India have reached 79/1 in 9.5 overs, after being pushed into batting first by Australia.

Ruturaj Gaikwad got India going with a neat glance and a punchy cover drive in the opening over against debutant pacer Spencer Johnson. Josh Hazlewood was impressive in his line and length and that got him the wicket of Gaikwad, taking the outside edge off the right-hander’s bat to be caught behind by Alex Carey.

Iyer, coming at number three, found his groove by taking two boundaries off a lofted cover drive and a wristy clip against Johnson. He followed it up with a drive on-the-up against Hazlewood, taking three boundaries in his first seven balls.

He went on to smash Sean Abbott through the line and pulled past Carey off Hazlewood to take two more boundaries. Gill joined the boundary-hitting party by lofting Abbott high over long-on for six and then danced down the pitch to drive through extra cover for four, bringing the fifty of his partnership with Iyer.

With slight drizzle coming in, Gill danced down the pitch to loft over Cameron Green’s head for a boundary and pulled high over fine leg for six before rain came in strong force to interrupt the proceedings, forcing the players off the field.

Brief Scores: India 79/1 in 9.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 34 not out, Shubman Gill 32 not out; Josh Hazlewood 1-21) against Australia