Stoinis keeps cool as Aussies win thriller

The scorecard: Australia 4-158 (Maxwell 46, Lynn 37; Kuldeep 2-24) beat India 7-169 (Dhawan 76, Karthik 30; Zampa 2-22) by four runs.

*Match reduced to 17 overs a side, India target 174 on Duckworth-Lewis method

The match in a tweet: Aussies survive late scare! Maxi and Lynn blaze away before India almost snatch it late in thrilling T20I series opener at the Gabba

The hero: Glenn Maxwell carried on his impressive form from Saturday night on the Gold Coast with another team-high contribution, this time crashing 46 from just 24 balls. The Victorian drove a couple through cover from the first ball he faced, then launched into left-arm orthodox spinner Krunal Pandya with three consecutive sixes. He hit another maximum a short time later and his whirlwind cameo was the key to the Australians posting a strong total.

The support act: Marcus Stoinis played the perfect foil for Maxwell through their 78-run stand, finishing unbeaten on 33 from 19 balls. It was more than double his previous best T20I score of 16 and just the sort of cameo that could prove a breakthrough in the format for the West Australian. With the ball, he also picked up two wickets in a nerve-jangling final over. Leggie Adam Zampa went from villain to hero in the space of a few balls, dropping a return catch from Shikhar Dhawan before inducing a false shot from Virat Kohli to snare the wicket of the Indian captain. His final figures of 2-22 from four overs justified his inclusion on the wide expanses of the Gabba.

The hometown hero: Six-hitting sensation Chris Lynn has been threatening to do for Australia what he has regularly done for Brisbane Heat, so the Gabba was a fitting destination for him to at least give fans a taste of his talents. In one over from 20-year-old left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed, he blazed three sixes between midwicket and long on, including a 108-metre bomb that landed in the top tier.

The Incident I: Maxwell again. This time he may have got a little lucky, when a skied ball crashed directly into the Flying Fox – the broadcaster's aerial camera that was lurking directly above the pitch. The footage was spectacular but the result was a dead ball and potentially a chance for India to take a key wicket.

The Incident II: This was a strange one. Zampa the bowler. KL Rahul the batsman. Alex Carey the keeper. Rahul cuts toward backward point, zing bails light up. Carey indicates to the square leg umpire that he may have brushed the bails with his gloves, the confusion presumably coming from the gloveman not knowing whether Rahul had also stepped back onto his stumps. Replays confirm the batsman wasn't even close, and the upshot is a boo (perhaps unfairly) for Carey and a no-ball and free-hit combo for India.

The stat: In making 27 (24), Aaron Finch broke his streak of five straight single-figure scores and became the first Australian (eighth overall) to reach 500 T20I runs in a calendar year.

The consolation efforts: What about Dinesh Karthik!? Perhaps the most unheralded of India's top six, the 33-year-old joined 21-year-old Rishabh Pant in the middle at 4-105 after 11.4 overs. The equation was 69 from 32. In a flurry of mishaps and mayhem for the hosts – including one AJ Tye over that cost 25 runs – the Indian pair revived the contest and almost got their side what would have been an incredible get-out-of-jail triumph. With the ball, left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav caused problems for most of Australia's batsman, notably Lynn, in claiming 2-24. But the star turn for India came from opener Dhawan, who enjoyed the pace and bounce of the Australian quicks to smash 76 from 42 and signal a warning for the remainder of the series.

The next stop: The teams fly south to Melbourne tomorrow ahead of Friday night's second T20I. Organisers are expecting more than 70,000 people to flood the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the contest.

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Gillette T20s v India 

November 21: The Gabba

November 23: MCG

November 25: SCG

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.