India starts with a win in World Cup 2023

India starts with a win in World Cup 2023. Cricket lovers from across the world are enjoying the excitement of the World Cup 2023. The tournament started a couple of days back but home team India started its campaign today locking horns with the mighty Australia in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

In the day and night encounter, Australia won the toss and decided to set the target. India as expected made one change as Ishan Kishan entered the side as its opener Shubhman Gill, who was in the form of his life was down with dengue. Indian pacer Bumrah struck early by dismissing Mitchell Marsh for a duck with Kohli who is fully charged, taking an outstanding catch.

However, Warner and Smith got their act together with 69 run partnership but the Indian spin trio Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and local boy Ashwin who was the last-minute inclusion to the world cup squad suffocated the Australian batsmen so much that they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and got bundled out for a paltry 199. Steve Smith topscored with 46 runs while Warner scored 41 runs. Jadeja got 3 wickets while Bumrah and Kuldeep got 2 each.

Fans expected a cakewalk for the Men In Blue led by hitman Rohit Sharma during the break. But they got a triple shock when Ishan Kishan went for an expansive drive of the first ball he faced on his World Cup debut and was caught by Green in Starc's bowling. In the next over Hazelwood dealt a severe blow by trapping Rohit Sharma plumb. Though Rohit reviewed it, the third umpire turned it down citing Umpire's Call. Before chase master Kohli could react, India got another shock when Shreyas Iyer got out for an adventurous shot of the bowling of Hazelwood.

India was tottering at 3/2 when KL.Rahul joined Kohli. Fans were left wondering whether India is bound to fail in the big tournaments as is its wont with the middle-order blues. Both Kohli and Rahul who have faced severe backlashes for their performances in the past by the fans, slowly got their act together and after seeing off the challenge of Starc and Hazelwood, paced their innings beautifully and completed their fifties and helped India ward off the threat. Kohli had a scare when Mitchel Marsh dropped a simple skier. Kohli was 12 and India was 3/20.

From that moment, Kohli and Rahul did not look back and stitched a 165-run partnership. When people thought that another century is a mere formality for Kohli, he got out for a pull caught by Labusachagne off Hazelwood. Hardik and Rahul completed the proceedings quickly and Rahul scored the winning runs with a 6. He was left stranded at 97 of 115 balls. Even commentators expected Rahul to score a four and then hit the winning shot for a six and Rahul nearly executed the plan but the ball sailed over the fence with Rahul sporting a wily smile. Kohli scored 85 of 116 balls.