World Cup 2023: Kohli, Rahul lead India to win over Australia

Indian spinners restrict Australia to 199 in Chennai

CHENNAI (Web Desk) - India defeated Australia by six wickets in the fifth match of the ICC World Cup at M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.

Chasing a low total of 200, Indian batting side crumbled in the beginning as Australian fast bowlers dismissed three top order batsmen for just 2 runs.

Josh Hazlewood dismissed Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer. Starc took the wicket of Ishan Kishan.

Then Virat Kohli and KL Rahul build a strong partnership and guided their team to the victory. Kohli smashed 85 runs. KL Rahul scored unbeaten 97 runs.

Earlier, Indian spinners restricted Australia to 199 runs in their opening match.

Australia’s Steven Smith remained the top scorer with 46 runs, while opener David Warner made 41 runs.

Indian spinners Jadeja claimed three wickets while Yadav bagged two wickets. Jasprit Bumrah also removed two Australian batters.

Earlier, Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat in their World Cup opener against hosts India.

With Travis Head recovering from a hand fracture, Mitchell Marsh retained his place as David Warner's opening partner for the five-time champions who also left out all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who is nursing a hamstring injury.

"We're in a really good spot, we've got a good balance between game time and being fresh," Cummins said.

India had their own issues at the top of the order with opener Shubman Gill down with dengue.

Left-handed Ishan Kishan was drafted in to open the innings with skipper Rohit Sharma.

"We've covered all our bases," Rohit said at the toss.

"Unfortunately, Shubman didn't recover in time. Ishan will replace him."

 

India have thrashed Australia just four times in the history of the 50-overs World Cup.

 

Which captain comes out on top today? #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/Pqc7qywhGV

— ICC (@ICC) October 8, 2023

Indian side will step into the ground possibly without in-form batter Shubman Gill, who is suffering from dengue. Similarly Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is too physically unfit to play today's match.  

Teams:

Australia: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Cameron Green, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj