Display a count on html template in Go

Using html/templates in Go can you do the following:

<table class="table table-striped table-hover" id="todolist">
    {{$i:=1}}
    {{range .}}         
    <tr>
        <td><a href="id/{{.Id}}">{{$i}}</a></td>
        <td>{{.Title}}</td>
        <td>{{.Description}}</td>
        </tr>
        {{$i++}}

    {{end}}
</table>

every time I add the $i variable the app crashes.