India recover from 2-3 in chase of 200 to beat Australia by six wickets at Cricket World Cup; KL Rahul (97no) and Virat Kohli (85) put on 165 for fourth wicket; Ravindra Jadeja earlier bagged 3-28 as Australia dismissed for 199 after electing to bat - watch every World Cup game on Sky
Sunday 8 October 2023 21:29, UK
World Cup hosts India recovered from a horror start to their run chase to secure a resounding six-wicket win over Australia in Chennai.
India were reeling on 2-3 in a pursuit of 200 after skipper Rohit Sharma, opening partner Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were all dismissed for ducks inside the first two overs.
However, KL Rahul (97no) and Virat Kohli (85) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 165 before Rahul ended the game with a six once Kohli was dismissed with 33 runs required.
The game could have panned out differently had Mitchell Marsh not dropped Kohli on 12 but Kohli was superb from that point on, scoring his 67th ODI fifty with Rahul notching his 16th.
Ravindra Jadeja (3-28) had earlier led a spin-bowling clinic from India, bowling Steve Smith (46) with a beauty to trigger a collapse as Pat Cummins' side slipped from 110-2 to 119-5 and then 199 all out on a slow pitch in hot temperatures.
Jadeja, playing on his IPL home ground, ripped the heat out of the Australia innings, dismissing Smith in the 28th over and then Marnus Labuschagne (27) and Alex Carey (0) in the 30th.
The left-arm spinner was backed up by fellow slow bowlers Kuldeep Yadav (2-42) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1-34) as well as seamer Jasprit Bumrah (2-35), with Kuldeep catching David Warner (41) off his own bowling after the Australia opener had passed 1,000 runs across all Cricket World Cups.
India return to action against Afghanistan on Wednesday with Australia facing South Africa on Thursday, the side that plundered the highest score in World Cup history against Sri Lanka on Saturday when they made 428-5.
Australia were unable to ignite with the bat after winning the toss with Warner and Smith's 69-run stand coming from 85 balls and the 36 Smith added with Labuschagne taking 64.
Jadeja led the squeeze India put on the five-time champions, going at under three an over and taking three wickets in two overs, starting when he spun a ball onto Smith's off stump.
Kuldeep followed his dismissal of Warner by bowling Glenn Maxwell (15) with a delivery that turned to hit leg stump as the batter hacked across the line.
Seam bowler, Bumrah, meanwhile, nicked off Marsh for a duck early on, thanks to a fine diving catch from Kohli at slip, and then had Cummins (15) caught at long-on late in the innings amid the Australia captain and Mitchell Starc (28) adding lower-order runs.
Starc nicked off Kishan in the first over of India's chase as the opener, playing due to Shubman Gill's illness, slashed at a wide delivery, while Josh Hazlewood then pinned Rohit lbw and had Shreyas caught at cover in the second over.
India should have been four down in the eighth over when Kohli ballooned a Hazlewood short ball into the leg-side but Marsh grassed the chance on the run, perhaps put off as he threatened to collide with wicketkeeper Carey.
Kohli and Rahul went on to blunt Australia's attack and it came as a shock when the former swatted a Hazlewood short ball to Labuschagne at midwicket, with a 48th ODI hundred looking there for the taking.
Rahul missed out on a hundred, too, hitting Cummins too well over extra cover with five runs required as a six left him three runs short of a seventh ODI century.
New Zealand - who thrashed defending champions England by nine wickets in Thursday's tournament opener - meet Netherlands in Hyderabad on Monday (9.30am start).
England will look to bounce back from their loss to the Black Caps when they face Bangladesh in Dharamshala on Tuesday (6am start).
Watch every game from the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup live on Sky Sports. You can also stream with NOW for £21 a month for six months. Cancel anytime.
