ICC World Cup 2023: India beat Australia by six wickets

Chennai, The Gulf Observer: India survived an early scare to beat Australia by six wickets in their opening match of the ICC World Cup in Chennai on Sunday.

Chasing just 200 to win, India were struggling at two for three, but KL Rahul (97 not out) and Virat Kohli (85) helped the home team overcome the Australian challenge and earn a six-wicket win.

Chasing a tricky target of 200, India lost three batsmen, who all failed to score, inside two overs before Kohli and Rahul put on 165.

Victory was secured with 52 balls to spare.

Earlier, inspired by a brilliance performance from the spinners in Chennai, hosts India restricted five-time champions Australia to 199 all out (49.3 overs).

Australia opted to bat after winning the toss, but their batters could not cope with the relentless pressure created by the Indian spinners.

Ravindra Jadeja (10-2-28-3), Kuldeep Yadav (10-0-42-2) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10-1-34-1) broke the back of the Australian batting after pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (10-0-35-2) earned India an early breakthrough by dismissing Mitchell Marsh (0) in the third over.

Steven Smith (46 off 71 balls) and opener David Warner (41 off 52 balls) tried to revive the Australian innings after the first wicket, but Kuldeep and Jadeja combined to send both batters back to the pavilion.

The rest of the Australian team players were unable to deal with the turning ball on a slow wicket as India kept taking wickets at regular intervals.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill, who is down with fever, was replaced by Ishan Kishan, the young wicketkeeper-batter, in India’s playing eleven.