A pulsating Sunday night, oscillating between agony and ecstasy, finally culminated with India commencing its World Cup campaign on a winning note. Virat Kohli, the zen-master of the uphill pursuit, found a fine ally in ‘Player-of-the-Match’ K.L. Rahul as the Men in Blue survived a nervous two for three wickets stage, to upstage Australia here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. India won by six wickets, posting 201 for four in 41.2 overs.
Pursuing Australia’s 199, India’s chase suffered an early stutter when Ishan Kishan attempted an extravagant drive against Mitchell Starc and edged.
Skipper Rohit Sharma departed in the next over with Josh Hazlewood darting one back in to ruffle the pad. The horrors continued as Shreyas Iyer needlessly tried to drill one over the inner circle and Hazlewood leapt in delight.
