Srinagar: Team India spinners ruled the proceedings as Australia were restricted to mere 199 total in their first World Cup 2023 against India in Chennai on Sunday.
Earlier Australia skipper Pat Cummins won a crucial toss in Chennai, and elected to bat first. His opposite number, Rohit Sharma, opined that the conditions were good for bowlers and that the wicket would take turn as the game progresses.
This was proved right early on in the Australia innings, when Jasprit Bumrah got Mitchell Marsh to edge one towards the first slip. Virat Kohli held on to the chance, and India had their first breakthrough. With a boundary against Hardik Pandya in the seventh over, David Warner became the fourth Australia batter to reach the 1000 run mark in Men’s Cricket World Cups. Australia gained some momentum in that over, hitting three boundaries to up the scoring rate.
Australia 43/1 at the end of first Powerplay. The Warner-Smith pairing continued accumulating runs at a decent pace. India finally had a breakthrough in the 17th over when Warner (41) tried to punch Kuldeep down the ground and ended up offering a return chance.
India spinners were able to bring down the scoring rate with their disciplined bowling.
Soon after the 25-over mark, Jadeja bowled an absolute beauty which castled Steve Smith for 46. The delivery turned enough to beat Steve Smith’s outside edge and then crashed into his off-stump. In the 30th over, Jadeja snared Marnus Labuschagne (27) and Alex Carey (0) to put India ahead.
Australia were further dented in the 36th and 37th overs, when Glenn Maxwell (15) and Cameron Green (8) fell to Kuldeep and Ashwin respectively. Vital contribution from Mitchell Stac (28) down the order helped Australia to 199.
Shubman Gill did not recover from illness in time for the match, with fellow youngster Ishan Kishan set to partner skipper Rohit at the top of the India batting order.
Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis missed out for Australia due to injury, with David Warner and Mitch Marsh to open the batting on a sunny day at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Australia XI: David Warner, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood