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.
Sliver of fortune
Kohli thankfully avoided his colleagues’ dirge of ducks, watching the ball closely, leaving on time, defending well and not averse to slap one past Hazlewood for four.
A sliver of fortune glimmered when a charging Mitchell Marsh dropped a skier from Kohli after the batter miscued a hook against Hazlewood. On 12 then, Kohli later whipped two fours off Cameron Green. Rahul too cut and drove Adam Zampa for three fours in the leg-spinner’s first over.
The partnership found deep roots and calmed nerves in the Indian dressing room. Australian skipper Pat Cummins ran in hard and tried to hustle the duo but barring the odd play-and-miss, he too was countered. Kohli and Rahul got to their respective fifties before the former perished to Hazlewood with a tired pull. Kohli’s 85 (116b, 6x4) and his 165-run fourth-wicket partnership with Rahul (97 n.o., 115b, 8x4, 2x6) ensured that India got past the winning line with Hardik Pandya too adding his flourish with a big hit.
Earlier, a sweltering hot afternoon was no deterrent for the fans and while their sea of blue swept into the venue, a few yellow streaks were visible due to some vacant seats of the same colour. David Warner and Marsh strode out and the latter succumbed early, twitching outside the off-stump for Jasprit Bumrah to induce the edge which a diving Kohli caught at first slip.
The old guard of Warner and Steve Smith soon combined well for a 69-run second-wicket partnership.
Warner drove and pulled while Smith found his spots. But against the run of play, Warner (41) lobbed one straight back to spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Marnus Labuschagne linked up with Smith (46) for a brief alliance that ended once Ravindra Jadeja pinned the latter to the crease and got the ball to turn just a shade and rattle the stumps.
It proved to be a stunning appetiser as Jadeja soon dismissed Labuschagne and Alex Carey.
Strangle by spin
At 119 for five in 30 overs, Australia suffocated under the ‘strangle by spin’ as Kuldeep and R. Ashwin struck in tandem.
Kuldeep castled Glenn Maxwell and despite the rare big shot, the tail wilted and India eventually owned the night.
Scoreboard
Australia innings: David Warner c&b Kuldeep Yadav 41 Mitchell Marsh c Kohli b Bumrah 0 Steven Smith b Jadeja 46 Marnus Labuschagne c Rahul b Jadeja 27 Glenn Maxwell b Kuldeep 15 Alex Carey lbw Jadeja 0 Cameron Green c Pandya b Ashwin 8 Pat Cummins c Iyer b Bumrah 15 Mitchell Starc c Iyer b Siraj 28 Adam Zampa c Kohli b Pandya 6 Josh Hazlewood not out 1 Extra (LB-6, W-6) 12
Total (all out in 49.3 overs) 199
Fall of Wickets: 1-5, 2-74, 3-110, 4-119, 5-119, 6-140, 7-140, 8-165, 9-189.
Indian bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 10-0-35-2, Mohammed Siraj 6.3-1-26-1, Hardik Pandya 3-0-28-1, Ravichandran Ashwin 10-1-34-1, Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-42-2, Ravindra Jadeja 10-2-28-3.
India innings: Rohit Sharma lbw b Hazlewood 0 Ishan Kishan c Green b Starc 0 Virat Kohli c Labuschagne b Hazlewood 85 Shreyas Iyer c Warner b Hazlewood 0 KL Rahul not out 97 Hardik Pandya not out 11 Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-5, nb-1) 8
Total: 201/4 in 41.2 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-167
Australian bowling: Mitchell Starc 8-0-31-1, Josh Hazlewood 9-1-38-3, Pat Cummins 6.2-0-33-0, Glenn Maxwell 8-0-33-0, Cameron Green 2-0-11-0, Adam Zampa 8-0-53-0.
