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KL Rahul and Virat Kohli scored half-centuries and stitched together a crucial partnership to guide India to victory against Australia in their opening match of the Cricket World Cup 2023 in Chennai on Sunday. Chasing a modest target of 200, India were off to a horrible start as Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer departed within the first two overs of the innings. Kohli and Rahul steadied the innings and were able to clinch the hard-fought win. During the post-match presentation, Rahul revealed the piece of advice that Kohli gave him when he came out to bat in the tense situation.
“There were not a lot of conversations with Kohli. I had just taken a shower and was hoping to put my feet up for half an hour after the fielding innings, but I had to come in. Virat said that I should play like Test cricket for a bit. Happy to play this for the team. There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers early on. Towards the end, the dew played a bit of a part for them. The ball also skidded on better. It was still two-paced. It was not a great wicket to bat on, neither was it too difficult. I think it was a good cricket wicket, that is what you get in the South of India, especially in Chennai. (Last shot for six) I hit it too well. I wanted to get a hundred by going four and six. Hopefully, some other time I can get it,” he said.
Coming to the match, Australia lost Mitchell Marsh for a duck, but opener David Warner (41 in 52 balls with six fours) and Steve Smith (46 in 71 balls with five fours) helped the Aussies recover with their 69-run second-wicket partnership.
Marnus Labuschagne (27) tried to take the Aussie innings forward with Smith, but following Smith’s dismissal, Australia faced a collapse.
The spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja (3/28), Kuldeep Yadav (2/42) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/34) went right through Australia’s line-up of recognised batters while the pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah (2/35), Mohammed Siraj (1/26) and Hardik Pandya (1/28) removed the lower order, sinking Australia from 110/3 to 199 all out in 49.3 overs.
Mitchell Starc (28) tried to help the Aussies play the full quota of 50 overs, but he failed.
In the chase of 200, India lost Ishan Kishan, skipper Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for ducks, leaving India at 2/3. Then a 165-run stand between Virat (85 in 116 balls with six fours) and KL Rahul (97* in 115 balls with eight fours and two sixes) helped India secure a six-wicket win. Josh Hazlewood (3/38) was the best bowler for Australia.
(With ANI inputs)
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