India Stutter But Fight Back To Beat Australia

Cricket World Cup hosts India started the tournament with a six-wicket win over giants Australia in Chennai on Sunday, but the victory was far from easy for the 2011 world champions.

Five-time title winners Australia, who batted first after Pat Cummins won the toss, lost Mitchell Marsh for a six-ball duck before opener David Warner and no. 3 batter Steve Smith steadied their ship.

The formidable Warner looked particularly dangerous as he crossed 1,000 ODI World Cup runs in his 19th innings, setting a new benchmark for the feat having done so in one innings fewer than Sachin Tendulkar and AB de Villiers.

However, India spinner Kuldeep Yadav stopped Warner’s innings at 41 runs after he dismissed him with a return catch. The wicket also ended a 69-run stand between Warner and Smith, who had looked confident of leading Australia to a competitive score.

‘Turning Point’

Smith was the next man to be sent back after India spinner Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets in a space of 10 balls, also dismissing Marnus Labuschagne and wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

That meant Australia went from 110-2 to 119-5. Later on, captain Cummins (15) and Mitchell Starc (28) added a few runs as the tail-enders pushed Australia to set a target of 199.

Jadeja was the pick of Indian bowlers with his 3-28, while fellow spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets each. Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj and Ravichandran Ashwin also bagged a wicket each as all of India’s bowlers took wickets.

Jadeja said dismissing Smith was the turning point in the first innings of the contest on a spin-friendly track.

“I think that was the turning moment. When you get a wicket like Steve Smith, from there onwards it was not easy to just come in and rotate the strike for the new batter,” Jadeja said.

“I would say that wicket was the turning point. From there onwards, they were 110-3 and 199 all out.

“My plan was simple. I was thinking that this is a Test match bowling wicket, I shouldn’t experiment too much because everything was happening in the wicket. So I was trying to bowl it stump to stump,” he added.

Shaky Start

With 200 needed for their first win of the tournament, India made a shaky start to their chase as they lost opener Ishan Kishan for a duck in the opening over. Kishan, who had replaced the ill Shubman Gill for the match, was dismissed by Starc.

Opener and captain Rohit Sharma was the second wicket to fall for India, as the batter was also out for a duck in the second over. Hazlewood trapped Rohit LBW, as the hosts were put under immense pressure.

No. 3 batter Shreyas Iyer was also sent back for a duck, thanks again to Hazlewood as India feared a batting collapse at 2-3.

But former skipper Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper KL Rahul struck a formidable partnership to help them secure the win. Kohli and Rahul combined for a 165-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Kohli struck 85 runs off 116 balls, smashing six fours, while Rahul was 97 not out, having struck eight fours and two sixes. Hardik Pandya was also unbeaten on 11, as India wrapped up the victory with almost 52 balls to spare.

India take on Afghanistan next in their World Cup fixture in Delhi on Wednesday before the highly-anticipated clash against Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 14. Australia, meanwhile, play against South Africa in Lucknow on Thursday.