India won their opening ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 clash against Australia by six wickets on 8 October.
India were rattled early on in their chase of 200, when they lost three wickets in the space of 12 balls.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then came together to stabilise the innings. The duo added 165-runs for the fourth wicket to guide the India chase.
After the 20 over mark, Kohli and Rahul continued firmly and added runs at about four an over. Kohli reached his half-century in the 26th over, whereas achieved that mark in the 28th over. While proceedings remained sedate in overs 21-30, an erratic fifth over from Pat Cummins helped India garner 11 runs.
The run flow improved for India thereafter. Scoring at better than run a ball, India had brought the required rate closer to three by the 35th over. Kohli eventually fell for a well-made 85 from 116 balls in the 38th over. This was the highest partnership by an India pair against Australia in a Cricket World Cup contest. It was also the highest partnership between two India batters in a Cricket World Cup contest for the fourth wicket.
The arrival of Hardik Pandya picked the pace of India’s initiative and the Men in Blue crossed the line in the 42nd over.
India got off to the worst possible start to their innings. They lost three batters for a duck at the score of 2. Ishan Kishan (0) chased one away from his body against Mitchell Starc and ended up giving a catch in the slip cordon. In the very next over, Josh Hazlewood trapped Rohit Sharma lbw for a duck. The last ball of the second over produced another wicket, when Shreyas Iyer was caught driving away from his body.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then came together to hold the innings together. The duo took their time to get their eyes in and then upped the scoring rate after the first Powerplay. Kohli survived a scare in the eighth over, when he was dropped by Mitchell Marsh off the bowling of Hazlewood. The duo had reached a 50 run partnership in the 16th over. A hat-trick of boundaries from KL Rahul in the 18th over helped the India scoring rate.
Earlier a 69-run stand between David Warner and Steve Smith was the highlight of Australia’s batting innings, however India dominated the proceedings with help from their spinners.
The tweakers shared six wickets between them. Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of India’s bowlers with his 3/28. He got good support from Kuldeep Yadav (2/42), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/34) and pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/35).
Smith top scored for Australia with 46, while David Warner (41) and Mitchell Starc (28) also found some runs.