Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
World Cup: Rahul, Kohli steer India to opening win
The hosts' chase began with the first three batters fail to score but Kohli and Rahul took charge to seal a six-wicket win over Australia
The deafening roar of a partisan Chepauk crowd at the halfway mark turned into stunned silence in the first ten minutes of India’s innings on Sunday. The reason? Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer all fell without opening their account, reducing India to 2/3 in two overs. It wasn’t supposed to be like this after India had skittled Australia for 199 thanks to a noteworthy bowling effort led by their spinners at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
But do the Australians ever give in without a fight, particularly at a World Cup? What followed were plenty of anxious moments for Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. None more nervous for Kohli than when the ball seemed to hang in the air for an eternity after a miscued pull off Josh Hazlewood – he was on 12 – but Mitchell Marsh, rushing in from square leg, botched up. Once the ball touched the grass, the crowd let out a collective sigh of relief.
Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood had produced their fair share of wicket-taking deliveries in the opening burst, but they were also helped by some injudicious shot selection from the India top order. Kishan went at a full away swinger by Starc that could have been left alone. Iyer drove loosely at a Hazlewood length ball that David Warner gladly held on to at cover.
Kohli, too, played shots fraught with danger early on. On another day, one of his airy drives may have easily landed in the hands of the eager slip fielders. On another day, Marsh would have held on. But this wasn’t that day. Instead, Kohli and Rahul, with grit and grace in equal measure, oversaw the tough phase to cobble together a match-turning partnership of 165 runs off 214 balls. It paved the way for India’s six-wicket win in their opening game of the World Cup.
After the jitters at the start of India’s innings, the crowd – the official attendance was 32,531 -- began finding its voice once again in the 15th over, courtesy Kohli’s back-to-back flicks through midwicket for boundaries. In the 18th over, more cheers followed as Rahul slammed leggie Adam Zampa for three fours in his 13-run opening over. The first two were delicate late cuts that sped past the 30-yard circle.
Innings gathers pace
As the partnership grew, so did the frequency of ones and twos, the lifeblood of a trademark Kohli innings. When India brought up the 100 in the 26th over, Kohli also brought up his fifty off 75 balls. Rahul reached the mark soon after, off 72 balls, with a single to deep point.
As India got closer to their target, even these nudges and nurdles elicited applause. Unlike India’s spinners, Zampa and off-spinner Glenn Maxwell simply didn’t have the same impact. It could be that the presence of dew – most Australian fielders had towels tucked behind their trousers -- did not make the ball grip and spin as much as it did in the first phase of the game.
It was Hazlewood eventually who got Kohli caught at midwicket on 85. By then though, India needed only 33 more for victory. Those runs were wiped off in quick time. Hardik Pandya slammed Pat Cummins for a six over long-off while Rahul hit Maxwell for a six and four off successive deliveries. Fittingly, Rahul finished the game in style with a six over covers against Cummins.
While India’s top order wobble will call for some introspection, India's bowling effort couldn’t be faulted. Jasprit Bumrah set the tone, settling on an impeccable channel outside off-stump immediately to stifle Australia’s scoring options. It brought instant reward with the dismissal of Marsh in the third over. The length was slightly shorter than his previous deliveries, but the edge was still found and Kohli moved well to his left to complete a sharp catch.
Aussies start slow
While David Warner and Steve Smith cracked a few exquisite boundaries early on, their scoring rate never pushed India into a corner. Even after punishing Pandya for three boundaries in his first over, they were only 29/1 after seven overs.
That’s when Sharma turned to spin for the first time. On came R Ashwin, Chennai’s very own, and off his third delivery, short of a length, Smith went back to cut. Only that the ball bounced more than he expected and beat his bat. Next ball, similar length, Smith defended but tentatively, the ball spitting sharply off the surface and taking a puff of dust with it.
The scoring rate slowed further as the spin trio of Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja went about their work assiduously after the powerplay. Kuldeep got Warner caught and bowled while Jadeja dismissed Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey in a superb spell of left-arm spin.
After Labuschagne had nudged Jadeja for a four towards fine leg in the 20th over, it took the Aussies another 74 balls to find their next boundary. By that time, Australia had already lost five wickets. Their hopes now rested on Maxwell and Cameron Green. They added 21 runs in 37 balls for the sixth wicket, but Kuldeep and Ashwin struck in the space of three deliveries. Maxwell was undone by a Kuldeep delivery that was quick through the air and flatter, knocking back his leg stump. Ashwin, who had bowled well all through, was fortuitous only to the extent that his wicket came off perhaps his worst delivery. It was short and wide, but Green’s cut shot was caught by Pandya at point.
Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Pandya came back towards the end to dismiss the lower-order, ensuring that every Indian bowler finished with at least a wicket each.
