World Cup: Rahul & Kohli Get India Out Of Jail As Men In Blue Beat Australia In Opener

Chennai: Virat Kohli and KL Rahul got India out of jail to engineer a 6-wicket win against Australia in their ODI World Cup opener here on Sunday night.

Indian bowlers did their job admirably, bowling out Australia for 199 in the ODI World Cup opener. But then the Aussie pacers hit back ferociously, sending back Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer – all for 0 – to have India reeling at 2/3.

Cometh the hour, cometh the men.

Kohli survived some anxious moments and a dropped catch but buckled down to the task on hand while Rahul was fluency personified as the duo tamed the Australian bowlers in a matchwinning 165-run partnership.

Kohli’s 85 came off 116 balls of which he hit just 6 boundaries. Rahul, on the other hand, turned on the style to smash an unbeaten 97 off 115 deliveries (8×4, 2×6).

Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah (2/35) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/28) produced fantastic performances with the ball after Australian captain Pat Cummins opted to bat first.

Brief scores: Australia 199 all out in 49.3 overs (Steve Smith 46, David Warner 41; Ravindra Jadeja 3/28, Jasprit Bumrah 2/35, Kuldeep Yadav 2/42). India 201/4 in 41.2 overs (KL Rahul 97*, Virat Kohli 85; Josh Hazlewood 3/38).

Man of the Match: KL Rahul.

India’s next matches

Oct 11 — Vs Afghanistan (New Delhi, 2 pm)

Oct 14 — Vs Pakistan (Ahmedabad, 2 pm)

Oct 19 — Vs Bangladesh (Pune, 2 pm)

Oct 22 – Vs New Zealand (Dharamsala, 2 pm)

Oct 29 — Vs England (Lucknow, 2 pm)

Nov 2 – Vs Sri Lanka (Mumbai, 2 pm)

Nov 5 — Vs South Africa (Kolkata, 2 pm)

Nov 11 — Vs Netherlands (Bengaluru, 2 pm).