In a game that had a disclaimer *Not for the faint-hearted* written all over it, Australia overcame the ebbs and flows to edge India out by three wickets and take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the 2-match series.

On a pitch where shot making was as difficult as it can get, the game fluctuated every second over and in the end it all came down to the final over where Umesh Yadav was unable to defend 14 runs as Pat Cummins [7] and Jhye Richardson [7] held their nerves to hand their side a sensational 3-wicket win.

This, after Jasprit Bumrah, bowled a sensational penultimate over where he gave away just two runs and accounted for Peter Handscomb and Nathan Coulter-Nile; the latter with a brilliant inswinging yorker.

Chasing 127, Australia looked in complete control of the game when Glenn Maxwell [54] and D'Arcy Short [37] had stitched an 84-run stand for the third wicket. The turning point came when Maxwell mistimed a wide ball from Chahal straight to long-off.

D'Arcy Short followed suit thanks to a horrible mix-up between him and Peter Handscomb while Ashton Turner went without troubling the scorers in an attempt to sweep Krunal Pandya, only to see his stumps rattled in the process.

It was a difficult pitch to bat on, and it was evident with the way India's innings unfolded, especially in the second half that saw them score just a single boundary.

Batting first, the first ten overs of India's innings was all about KL Rahul's exquisite strokeplay as the Karnataka's batsman flayed the Aussie attack to all corners of the ground, registering a 36-ball 50.

But, his wicket proved to be the turning point as India lost wickets at regular intervals, scoring 6-57 in the last 11.3 overs after being comfortably placed at 1-69 in 8.3.

MS Dhoni, like other batsmen, struggled to find his timing and with India's long-tail exposed, was left to do all by himself, denying a plethora of singles in the process.

With Pat Cummins and Richardson knocking off the 14 runs in the last over, the difference between the batting ability of the tail of both teams', ultimately proved to be the difference in the end.

Both sides' will now head to Bengaluru for the second T20I which will be played on February 27th.

Brief Scores-

Australia [7-127, Maxwell 56, Bumrah 3-16] beat India [7-126, KL Rahul 50, Nathan Coulter-Nile 3-26] by 3 wickets