India Lose Rain-Curtailed Perth ODI

India lost the rain-curtailed 1st ODI in Perth by seven wickets after a top-order collapse left the visitors 136/9, with Shreyas Iyer again out cheaply to Josh Hazlewood for 11. Ravichandran Ashwin called it a forgettable day, praising debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy’s unbeaten 19 as the sole positive while noting rain and the toss affected proceedings. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned after seven months but failed to make an impact — Kohli fell for a duck and Rohit struggled — while KL Rahul provided the main resistance with 38. The result revived concerns about India’s lack of wicket-taking options, prompting calls to recall wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and suggestions from Irfan Pathan to use Nitish for more overs or slot Harshit Rana at No. 8 to make room for a specialist spinner. In the Women’s World Cup, Harmanpreet Kaur said Smriti Mandhana’s dismissal was the turning point in India’s four-run loss to England and urged reassessment of death-over execution ahead of the New Zealand match.