India had a great start to the World Cup. But Rohit Sharma was also feared to be in danger. The way Australia started the bowling even with a small target, there was a fear of India being bowled out with few runs. But Lokesh Rahul and Virat Kohli brought victory to the team under pressure.
India defeated Australia by 6 wickets in their first match of the World Cup in Chippewa on Sunday (October 8).
Australia set a target of 200 runs to India by batting at the beginning. But chasing a small target, the Indians lost 3 wickets to score 2 runs. From there, Rahul and Kohli scored a 165-run partnership to win the team. Both went close to the century but neither could touch the magical figure of three.
After winning the toss and going into bat, Australia was shocked at the beginning. Mitchell Marsh was dismissed by Bumrah without adding any runs to the scoreboard. Steve Smith took the lead down to three. Formed a partnership of 69 runs with David Warner. Warner scored 41 runs before being dismissed by Kuldeep.
When Warner returned, Smith started repairing the innings again with Labuchen. But in the end, he was also cut by Jadeja's whirlwind. After Smith's return, Australia lost 4 more wickets for a gap of 30 runs. There was a fear that it would end long before 200 runs.
However, Australia scored 199 runs against Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Starc scored 28 off 35 balls and was dismissed by Mohammad Siraj in the last over. Cummins scored a valuable 15 runs.
All of the Indian spinners have been successful with the ball. Kuldeep took 2 wickets with 42 runs except for Jadeja's 3 wickets. Ravichandran Ashwin got one wicket in total but bowled very well. Bumrah took two wickets. Besides, Mohammad Siraj and Hardik Pandya took one wicket each.
In response, India took three wickets in two overs thanks to Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Soon came the opportunity to pick up the fourth wicket. But Mitchell Marsh missed that catch of Virat Kohli.
Later, this catch miss became tomorrow for Australia. Kohli kept the team close to victory before being dismissed for 85 off 6 fours. Formed a great pair with Rahul. Rahul, however, was undefeated till the end. Scored 97 runs with 8 fours and 2 sixes. After Kohli's dismissal, Rahul made a partnership of 34 runs with Hardik Pandya to bring the team to the port of victory.
Hazlewood took three wickets for Australia. Starc has the remaining 1 wicket.
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