CWC 2023 has started with lowest possible craze and low attendance. BCCI and ICC have hoped India and Australia match to be a blockbuster. While the match has had moments of becoming a blockbuster, it ended up being fairly one-sided affair. India found their big gun Virat Kohli emulating his chase mastery to take his team to winning shores. Australia found it difficult to score against poignant spin attack of Indian Team. Hence, India started their campaign with thumping victory against Australia in Chennai.
India in 2003 faced Australia in group stage and got bundled out below 150. In 2023, they have dismissed Australia under 200 and gace a strong statement about their skills. Team India has won against Australia in 2011 World Cup in Quarter Finals. But lost to them in 2015 at Semi-Final stage and won against them in 2019 group match. So, the match has become important for India and Australia to announce their arrival and preparation for CWC. India got a spin-friendly slow wicket at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
Australia won the toss and elected to field first. Mitchell Marsh got duck out and Steven Smith(46), David Warner(41) got together to stitch a partnership. But Ravindra Jadeja broke the back of Australia by dismissing Smith, Marnus Labuschagne(27) and Alex Carey(0) immediately. India got hold of Australia batters and never let them score freely. Still, Australia managed to score 199 in 49.3 overs. Ravindra Jadeja(3/28), Jasprit Bumrah(2/35), Kuldeep Yadav(2/42), Ravichandran Ashwin(1/34), Mohammed Siraj(1/26) and Hardik Pandya(1/28) took wickets for India.
During the chase, Ishan Kishan(0), Rohit Sharma(0) and Shreyas Iyer(0) got out without scoring and reduced India to 2/3. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have decided to treat the game like a Test match. Slowly, they have constructed a partnership and scored 165 together. Virat Kohli got dismissed for 85 losing an opportunity to score a century. KL Rahul kept batting and he wanted to score a 4 and a 6 to complete his century. But the ball went to six when 5 runs were required and India won the match by 6 wickets.
KL Rahul looked dismayed by the shot, even though it sailed over ropes for six. He wanted to hit a boundary and then try for a six. India scored 201/4 in 41.2 overs. Hardik Pandya scored 11 runs from 8 balls to contribute for the win. KL Rahul for his 97 got Player of the Match, considering the pitch and moment he came to bat. India has shown the prowess of their spin attack. And if the pitches remain conducive, they will be an unstoppable force. India will play Afghanistan on 11th October at Delhi.
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