Photo: ESPNCricinfo/X
India defeated Australia by six wickets in their fisrt match, fifth match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, thanks to the responsible batting of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
Indian Batsmen achieved Australia's target of 200 runs in the 42nd over, after three players were dismissed for 2 runs, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul took over the team.
Virat Kohli scored 85 and KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 97 and gave the team momentum with easy victory.
India overcome an early wobble to take their opening #CWC23 by a comfortable margin 💪#INDvAUS 📝: https://t.co/IM6f6KJYrK pic.twitter.com/KfwkXgck7q
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 8, 2023
In the match played in Chennai, India, Australia won the toss and decided to bat first against India.
Australia batted slowly throughout the match against India, the Australian batters could not play freely in front of the Indian bowlers. The Kangaroos were all out for 199 in the last over.
Steve Smith (46) and David Warner (41) were the top scorers for Australia.
Australia captain Pat Cummins said that our team is balanced, we are fresh and in a good position, the players have got a lot of time to prepare before the match.
Australia's innings against India did not start well, opener Mitchell Marsh was dismissed for zero off Bumrah on the total score of just 5.
David Warner and Steve Smith shared a 69-run partnership for the second wicket, but they also could not help the team score a big score. Warner scored 41 and Smith scored 46 runs.
The Australian team could not play freely in front of the Indian bowlers throughout the innings and batted slowly in the match, during which their wickets also fell one after the other.
Mitchell Starc scored 28, Marnus Labuschagne scored 27 runs, while Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell scored 15 runs each.
Apart from this, Cameron Green scored 8 and Adam Zampa scored 6 runs, while Alex Carey was dismissed for zero, the entire Australian team was dismissed in 49.3 overs.
India's Ravindra Jadeja took 3 wickets while Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah took 2 wickets each. Apart from this, Mohammed Siraj, Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya took one wicket each.
Chasing a target of 200 runs, India's start was not good at all, Australian bowlers bowled destructively early in the innings and sent the Indian top order to the pavilion.
Ishan Kishan, Captain Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed for zero.
After the fall of three wickets, the Australian team put a lot of pressure on the Indian team, the Kangaroos could get the fourth wicket on the total score of 20, but Mitchell Marsh dropped Virat Kohli's catch and gave him a chance and then the Indian batsmen did not look back.
Virat Kohli once again proved to be a men's crisis and played a brilliant innings of 85 runs, but he could not score a century and was caught out, on the other hand, KL Rahul also batted responsibly and snatched the victory from Australia.
Kohli and Rahul shared a brilliant partnership of 165 runs, Rahul scored an unbeaten 97 off 115 balls. Apart from this, Hardik Pandya scored 11 runs.
For Australia, Josh Hazlewood took three wickets and Mitchell Starc took one wicket.
KL Rahul was awarded the Player of the Match award for his superb batting.
