India start tour of Australia with four-wicket loss in first T20I

A sloppy India failed to get an ideal start to the Australia tour, losing the rain-hit opening T20 International by four runs at the Gabba in Brisbane on Wednesday.

India first faltered in the field, letting Australia score 158/4 after rain shortened the contest to 17 overs a side. Glenn Maxwell was the star batsman for Australia, hammering 46 runs off 24 balls.

The 45 minute rain stoppage meant India were set a revised target of 174 runs in 17 overs.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan smashed a sublime 76 off 42 balls in the run chase before Dinesh Karthik came up with a pulsating 30 off 13 balls towards the end but India still finished agonisingly short on 169/7.

"What we can do is learn from the mistakes and get back better. On the day, if we can have three-four guys to stand up for the team, that's what we want. Don't have much time to think of things, which can be a good thing as well as a bad thing," Virat Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

It was a morale boosting win for Australia, who have endured a dismal run of late in limited overs cricket.

The second match of the three-match series will be played in Melbourne on Friday.