Great knocks by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul helped India to register a great victory against Australia. India won the match by 6 wickets.
Aussies scored 199/10 in 49.3 overs and India chased down the target in 41.2 overs and scored 201/4.
After winning the toss Pat Cummins opted to bat first.
They got a bad start as they lost Mitchell Marsh in the 3rd over. He departed without scoring any runs. After that David Warner (41 runs) and Steve Smith (46 runs) built a partnership of 69 runs. Smith hit 5 boundaries while Warner hit 6 boundaries in their innings. As the pitch was slow they were rotating strike pretty well.
After that Marnus Labuschagne (27 runs) put some runs on the board but was unable to convert his innings into a big one. Mitchell Starc (28 runs) in the end hit some good shots and took his team close to 200. At the end they posted 199 runs in 49.3 overs by losing all the wickets.
Bowling department of the Indian team was fantastic as they stopped the Aussies from making a good score. All the bowlers took wickets. Ravindra Jadeja the local guy from IPL (playing for Chennai Super Kings) had spent a lot of time here and this shows in his bowling as he grabbed 3 wickets by giving away only 28 runs and also took 2 maiden overs. Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah both got 2 wickets each. Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Siraj and Hardik Pandya got 1 wicket each.
During the chase India lost 3 early wickets at 2 runs which put them on the backfoot. But then Virat Kohli (85 runs) and KL Rahul (97 runs not out) took the pressure off from the team. Both of them batted sensibly and rotated the strike pretty well. They also kept charging each other and hit the loose ball very well. Kohli hit 6 fours while Rahul hit 8 fours and 2 sixes in their innings.
Then KL finished the chase by hitting a six and scored 201 runs in 41.2 overs and lost only 4 wickets and opened the account with a victory in the World Cup.
Josh Hazelwood provided some damage early on by taking a couple of wickets at the start and finished with 3 wickets. Mitchell Starc settled with 1 wicket.
KL Rahul, India, Player of the Match
“I thought I would get a shower and get a break. I was just trying to get my breath back. Virat said there’s a bit in the wicket, so play Test cricket for a while . There was a bit of help for the pacers with the new ball, and then the spinners also. In the last 15-20 overs, dew played a part and that helped quite a bit. The ball also skidded on better.
However it was a bit two paced, it wasn’t the easiest of wickets to bat on and it wasn’t flat as well. It was a good cricket wicket, bit for the batters and the bowlers. That’s what you get in the south of India, especially Chennai. (About the last ball six) I hit it too well, I just calculated how to get to a 100 in the end. The only way was a four and a six, but no qualms on not getting to that hundred.”