India captain MS Dhoni blamed poor weather for his side's 31-run Twenty20 loss to Australia in Sydney on Wednesday.
India won the toss and sent Australia in, with the hosts posting a total of 4-171 thanks in large part to Matthew Wade's 72 off 43 balls.
Dhoni led India with an unbeaten 48 but he lacked support from his team-mates as the tourists limped to 6-140 from their 20 overs, handing Australia a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
The Australian innings endured a 20-minute rain delay, and Dhoni said his team's run chase had been hampered by the damp conditions.
"I think the weather played a big part in it," the Indian captain said.
"Here it rained in the second innings and our batting suffered because of that."
"That was the first toss I've won over here and with the rain forecast I said we'll look to chase. I thought the pitch would remain the same. I thought 170 was a good score if the wicket had remained the same."
"We got off to a good start and after that it started to rain and the ball started bouncing more than a normal delivery."
"It was difficult and maybe if the top order had stayed for longer and played their shots with someone at the other end, the result could have been different."
"As you saw, we struggled a lot yet we were able to score 140 which says something."
The match was played in front of 59,659 fans at Stadium Australia - a record for a single day's cricket in Sydney - and Dhoni said it was great to see such a turnout.
"It's always good to play in front of the fans," Dhoni said.
"For me, what's most important is the fact that people are coming to the stadium. It doesn't matter whether they are supporting us or the Australian side. It's always a pleasure playing in front of 50,000 or 60,000 people."
"It was a very good game and it's good to support good cricket. I think the distribution of the Australian and Indian fans was pretty even because you couldn't make out whether they were cheering for a boundary or for a wicket so the balance was definitely there"
