The much-anticipated return of India’s favorite sons – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – ended up being an absolute anti-climax, but what outraged fans even more was how India’s target was reduced by 5 runs to give Australia the advantage in the 1st ODI in Perth on Sunday.
After being asked to bat first, India’s batting was halted four times, with the game eventually reduced to 26 overs per side. During the breaks, Australia played smartly, throwing out their main fast bowlers in Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, keeping in mind any further disruptions to play.
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India has already suffered early blows with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not contributing much with the bat and constant breaks in the game did not allow the Men in Blue to play the innings with a balanced approach. Instead, they had to improvise with the likes of KL Rahul and Axar Patel with 38 and 31 runs respectively, in addition to Nitish Reddy’s quick-fire cameo of 19 off 11 balls as India reached a score of 136.
But due to the Duckworth–Lewis method, India’s first innings total was reduced by another five runs, leaving fans questioning whether the revised total was a fair calculation based on the number of interruptions the first innings had.
Check out some of the reactions on social media below:
Sports journalist Nikhil Naz also vented his frustration on social media about how India was unfairly penalized by the lack of runs. He said: “The side batting first is severely limited anyway by the stop-start nature of the game. As the overs total changes with each rain break, it’s so difficult to speed up the innings. The opposition’s top 2 bowlers get what their best bowlers get. And then you follow Duckworth-Lewis to further penalize batsmen who they scored first with India scoring 13? Aus will now need 131 to win. He will defeat me”.
One fan said: “DLS has got to be the craziest rule in cricket, imagine a team playing like they have 50 overs after 17 overs, they are told it’s a 26 over game and instead of increasing the score, DLS reduces their score by another 5 runs. Am I serious?”
Another fan shared on social media, “UNBELIEVABLE, UNACCEPTABLE!! Australia’s target of 131 seems against DLS rules. If India posted 136 under crazy circumstances, how come the target is reduced and not increased? Ridiculous method”.
One fan suggested that DLS might be outdated these days. “This is why the DLS method has to go. India’s score was shortened despite the fact that they only made 26 of their 50 overs to bat, as the initial data point for comparison is India’s slow start in the over. It is believed that India bowled faster later on as they had the advantage of not having to survive the full 50 overs, and therefore India’s total score would have been reset to a lower value only on 2.” overs from the very beginning, they would have played more aggressively from the very beginning. Such a basic thing to understand when you take the context of the game in reality. But the system works purely on mathematical calculations. Such an antiquated method!”
Be that as it may, India’s sudden loss of wickets also limited their chances of getting an increased score. Maybe if India had started well, maybe the conversation could have been completely different. So far, Australia appear to be firmly in control of the chase and could be eyeing a win in the series opener.
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Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
October 19, 2025
