World Cup 2023: India start their World Cup opener with a superb win against Australia. India restricted Australia to 199 with their tremendous bowling, and despite their early dismissals, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul led India to the win in their first match.

India’s Squad:

Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia’s Squad:

Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.

Match Summary:

India gains 2 points as they beat Australia by six wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. India restricted Australia on 199 with their superb bowling. Jadeja being the star performer with the ball gaining 3 wickets with the leak of just 28 runs.

Jadeja, who was inserted in the 20th over, was chiefly responsible for the control exercised throughout the bulk of Australia’s innings. Prior to Jadeja’s eight-over-straight performance of 3 for 28 in comfortable circumstances demolishing those foundations, Australia had made a decent start.

After Mitchell Marsh going for a duck on six balls, Warner and Smith let the partnership get going until Warner get caught on 41 by Kuldeep Yadav. Steven Smith, who reached the score of 46 before losing his off stump, was beaten on the outside edge.

Marnus Labuschagne was found to have been caught behind off a sweep, while Alex Carey only had two deliveries left before being ruled to be in front of middle leg before wicket.

At 119 for 5, it was up to Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green, the final two “full-time” hitters, to forge a noteworthy combination. Maxwell managed to hit Jadeja past extra cover for the first four in 73 deliveries, but in the space of four balls, the score went from 140 for 5 to 140 for 7. Thanks to an errant shot to Kuldeep and a careless cut by Green to backward point off Ashwin.

With three balls remaining, Starc would be the final victim, holing out onto the leg side to end the innings. However, four balls after the resumption, the Starc had Kishan leaving on the opening ball, slicing to Green at the first slip.

However, the attempt of a moderate target got off to an uncharacteristically poor start for India. Australia’s fast bowlers were breathing fire with the new ball. Starc got India’s opener batsman, Ishan Kishan’s wicket. Until, Hazelwood’s first over led two of their batsman (Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer) back to the pavilion.

For the first time in history, three of India’s top four batters were dismissed for a duck. In their response, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul led the men in blue to a comeback from a deficit of 2-3. And yet, India would have been 19-4 when Virat Kohli got dropped by Mitchell Marsh who was running from the square-leg after some misconception with Alex Carey.

After getting dropped on just 12 runs through a bouncer of Hazelwood, Kohli was nowhere to stop. The 165-run stand between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul led the team blue to gain victory against the mighty aussies.

Virat Kohli, after scoring 85 runs was dismissed by Hazelwood. On the other hand, KL Rahul remained not-out on 97 missing his well-deserved century by just three runs.

The World Cup Points Table after the 5th Match is given as follows:

ONE GAME EACH ✅

Any changes to your top four predictions? 😄 #CWC23 #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/iSYzWCpwAS

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 8, 2023