On Sunday, India defeated Australia by six wickets in their opening game of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
KL Rahul and Virat Kohli took control of the stumbling Indian batting lineup as the home teams had lost their three wickets for just two runs in the first two overs.
The two middle-order batsman made a match-winning 165-run partnership, making sure that the Blues don’t begin their World Cup journey with an awkward defeat in front of their home crowd.
Kohli made 85 runs while the wicketkeeper-batsman Rahul accumulated 97 runs, leading their side to a crucial victory.
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood delivered earlier impacts to the hosts and dismissed Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, and Shreyas Iyer but couldn’t damage the impeccable defense of the two match winners.
In the eighth over, however, Mitchell Marsh dropped the catch of Kohli when he was on 12, providing the star batsman a new life after an early scare.
Batting first, Australia was limited to 199 runs courtesy of an incredible bowling display by Indian spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.
The two spinners bagged five wickets with Jadeja picking three while Yadav bagged two wickets to his name.
It was an entire and dominant performance by the Indian bowling as all six bowlers got a wicket.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah bagged two wickets while Mohammad Siraj, Hardik Pandya, and Ravichandran Ashwin got one wicket each.
After winning the current Asia Cup 2023 and defeating the Aussies in a three-match ODI series, the Blues continued their excellent form.
On the other hand, things have begun to get challenging for Pat Cummins as his side has one victory in the last six ODIs and not having more than one genuine spinner (Adam Zampa) may generate more trouble for the Aussie in spinning Indian conditions.
