It seems things are already spicing up between India and Australia as the two teams battle it out in the five-match ODI series which got underway at Chennai on Sunday.

Virat Kohli’s men drew first blood in the limited-overs clashes after a 26-run victory via the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain had delayed Australia’s chase of 282.

• ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya’s brutal counter-attack and other talking points from India’s win over Australia

• Four controversial India vs Australia moments that won’t be forgotten anytime soon

Ultimately, Steve Smith’s men were set a reduced target of 164 to get in 21 overs, a total which would prove 26 runs too many in the end.

After the match, the Aussie skipper pointed out the disadvantage his side faced in having to deal with two new balls for the 21-over innings.

“It was never going to be easy chasing 160 with two new balls. I think 160 with one new ball would have made things a lot easier,” Smith said.

“When you have two new balls from both ends, as you saw the whole game, we took three wickets with the new ball and they found it quite hard. It was the same for us. When you are playing 20 overs, you don’t have a great deal of time to make things up.

“You need eight an over basically from ball one. It was difficult in that aspect. Perhaps we could have been a little bit more defensive at the start, keep wickets in hand and went harder later.”

Australia had been reduced to 35-4 by the Indian pacers early into their innings as they found the going tough on Chennai pitch generating enough movement to trouble the batsmen.

However, Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was not impressed by the Smith’s comment and refuted the Aussie skipper’s remarks that two new balls was a plus for the hosts.

“If they would have won then they could have said that (two new balls) was a plus point because the ball came on nicely to the bat,” the leg-spinner said.

“Our minus point was that we had to bowl 10 overs each with a new ball. We bowled well, so whether it’s a new or old ball, it doesn’t matter. Australia had an advantage in the 20-over game, because the rule was not for a 20-over game and the extra fielder was always in the inner circle.

“But the plus was that the wicket was turning and the way our medium-pacers bowled at the start helped us put pressure on them from the very beginning. We never allowed them to get into the game,” he added.

Chahal had picked up the crucial wicket of Glen Maxwell who threatened briefly to take the game away from India, along with the scalps of Matthew Wade and Pat Cummins to finish with impressive figures of 3-30 in his five overs.

The two sides now move to Kolkata where the second ODI will take place at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.