India won their opening ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 clash against Australia by six wickets on 8 October.

India were rattled early on in their chase of 200, when they lost three wickets in the space of 12 balls.

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then came together to stabilise the innings. The duo added 165-runs for the fourth wicket to guide the India chase.

Kohli – who was gifted a life on 12 when Mitchell Marsh dropped a gettable catch – fell for 85 but Rahul remained right until the end, finishing unbeaten on 97, to help India to a statement win in their opening Cricket World Cup encounter.

A 69-run stand between David Warner and Steve Smith was the highlight of Australia’s batting innings, however India dominated the proceedings with help from their spinners.

The tweakers shared six wickets between them. Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of India’s bowlers with his 3/28. He got good support from Kuldeep Yadav (2/42), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/34) and pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/35).
Smith top scored for Australia with 46, while David Warner (41) and Mitchell Starc (28) also found some runs.

After the 20 over mark, Kohli and Rahul continued firmly and added runs at about four an over. Kohli reached his half-century in the 26th over, whereas achieved that mark in the 28th over. While proceedings remained sedate in overs 21-30, an erratic fifth over from Pat Cummins helped India garner 11 runs.

The run flow improved for India thereafter. Scoring at better than run a ball, India had brought the required rate closer to three by the 35th over. Kohli eventually fell for a well-made 85 from 116 balls in the 38th over. This was the highest partnership by an India pair against Australia in a Cricket World Cup contest. It was also the highest partnership between two India batters in a Cricket World Cup contest for the fourth wicket.

The arrival of Hardik Pandya picked up the pace of India’s initiative and the Men in Blue crossed the line in the 42nd over.

India got off to the worst possible start to their innings. They lost three batters for a duck at the score of 2. Ishan Kishan (0) chased one away from his body against Mitchell Starc and ended up giving a catch in the slip cordon.

In the very next over, Josh Hazlewood trapped Rohit Sharma lbw for a duck. The last ball of the second over produced another wicket, when Shreyas Iyer was caught driving away from his body.

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then came together to hold the innings together. The duo took their time to get their eyes in and then upped the scoring rate after the first Powerplay.

Kohli survived a scare in the eighth over, when he was dropped by Mitchell Marsh off the bowling of Hazlewood.

The duo had reached a 50 run partnership in the 16th over. A hat-trick of boundaries from KL Rahul in the 18th over helped the India scoring rate.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins won a crucial toss in Chennai, and elected to bat first.

Virat Kohli held on to the chance, and India had their first breakthrough.

With a boundary against Hardik Pandya in the seventh over, David Warner became the fourth Australia batter to reach the 1,000 run mark in Men’s Cricket World Cups.

Australia gained some momentum in that over, hitting three boundaries to up the scoring rate.

Australia 43/1 at the end of first Powerplay. The Warner-Smith pairing continued accumulating runs at a decent pace. India finally had a breakthrough in the 17th over when Warner (41) tried to punch Kuldeep down the ground and ended up offering a return chance.

India spinners were able to bring down the scoring rate with their disciplined bowling.

Soon after the 25-over mark, Jadeja bowled an absolute beauty which castled Steve Smith for 46. The delivery turned enough to beat Steve Smith’s outside edge and then crashed into his off-stump. In the 30th over, Jadeja snared Marnus Labuschagne (27) and Alex Carey (0) to put India ahead.

Australia were further dented in the 36th and 37th overs, when Glenn Maxwell (15) and Cameron Green (8) fell to Kuldeep and Ashwin respectively. Vital contribution from Mitchell Stac (28) down the order helped Australia to 199.

Shubman Gill did not recover from illness in time for the match, with fellow youngster Ishan Kishan set to partner skipper Rohit at the top of the India batting order.

Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis missed out for Australia due to injury, with David Warner and Mitch Marsh to open the batting on a sunny day at MA Chidambaram Stadium.