India produced a clinical performance with bat and ball to crush Australia in their opening match of the ICC World Cup 2023 in Chennai on Sunday. India's victory also brought an end to Australia's 27-year winning streak in ODI World Cup openers.
Chasing a paltry target of 200, India got off to a nightmare start, losing the top-three for just 2 runs.
Rahul-Kohli show at Chepauk
Chase master Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then joined forces to bail India out of troubled waters and eventually put the Men in Blue in the driver's seat with their 165-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Rahul remained unbeaten on 97 while Kohli made 85 to lead India's chase under lights at Chepauk's MA Chidambaram Stadium.
"Good feeling to come out on top. (Bowling and fielding) Magnificent. Especially the fielding. The fielding was something we really put our effort on. It was a great effort.
"In conditions like this it can be tough sometimes. We knew there would be assistance for everyone. Seamers got reverse, spinners bowled in nice areas. All in all a great effort," captain Rohit Sharma said after the match.
Early blows and recovery
India suffered an early scare in the powerplay when Rohit, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer got out for ducks.
Mitchell Starc removed Kishan for a golden duck in the first over before Josh Hazlewood got rid of Rohit and Iyer in quick succession in the second over.
Kohli and Rahul then had to weather the storm and bat cautiously, which is exactly what they did. Both applied their heads and held their nerves to steady India's innings before playing attacking shots as they got closer to the target.
Kohli's records and Jadeja's starring show
Kohli crossed several milestones during his knock. He became India's highest run-scorer for India in white-ball ICC tournaments and became the only batter to cross 11,000 ODI runs as a non-opener in the format.
The batters took over after Ravindra Jadeja's heroics with the ball. The all-rounder bagged three wickets as India's slow bowlers spun a web around the Aussie batters to bowl out the opposition for 199 in 49.3 overs.
Jadeja finished with 3 for 28 while Kuldeep Yadav bagged two and Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his first ODI World Cup match since 2011, took one as spinners shared 6 wickets between themselves.
Jasprit Bumrah also took a couple of wickets while Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya bagged one each.
