KL Rahul could not score a century by only three runs but with the big half-centuries of him and Virat Kohli, India made a great start to their campaign in the ODI World Cup by defeating Australia by six wickets with 52 balls remaining in Chennai on Sunday. Rahul hit the winning six, taking his score to 97 runs.
For this unbeaten innings, KL Rahul played 115 balls and hit eight fours and two sixes. Taking full advantage of the life he got in the beginning, Kohli scored 85 runs in 116 balls with the help of six fours. India had a target of 200 runs but by the second over it had lost three wickets for two runs.
Kohli and Rahul not only rescued India from this situation but also made a partnership of 165 runs for the fourth wicket and took it to 201 runs for four wickets in 41.2 overs. Batting first, the Australian team was out for 199 runs in 49.3 overs.
For Australia, apart from David Warner (41 runs on 52 balls, six fours) and Smith (46 runs on 71 balls, five fours), lower order batsman Mitchell Starc (28) made useful contributions. For India, the spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 28 runs), Kuldeep Yadav (2 for 42 runs) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1 for 34 runs) took six wickets for 104 runs in 30 overs.
Among fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets for 35 runs while Mohammad Siraj and Hardik Pandya took one wicket each. The way India started their batting would have shocked the heart of any cricket lover in the country. The Indian team had lost three wickets in the first two overs while its score was only two runs.
This is also India’s minimum score in ODI with the fall of three wickets. Even these two runs of India did not come from the bat. Ishan Kishan, who opened the innings in place of unwell Shubman Gill, played a loose shot off Starc and was caught in the slips in the very first over. He returned to the pavilion after scoring a ‘golden duck’. This was Starc’s 50th wicket in the World Cup.
Josh Hazlewood (3 for 38) trapped captain Rohit Sharma LBW in the next over and got Shreyas Iyer, who came to take his place, caught at cover. Both these batsmen also could not open the account. Hazlewood would have also got the wicket of Kohli but when this batsman was playing on 12 runs, Mitchell Marsh dropped his easy catch.
India had scored 27 runs for three wickets in the first 10 overs. Kohli energized the audience by hitting two consecutive fours on Cameron Green in the 15th over. After this, Rahul spoiled Australia’s strategy by hitting three fours in the first over of leg spinner Adam Zampa.
There were no visible irregularities in the pitch and both the batsmen did not show any haste because they knew that the target was not very big and any haste could prove costly for the team. Kohli played 75 balls for his 67th half-century in ODIs and with this, India’s score also reached triple digits in 26 overs. After this, Rahul completed his 16th half-century in 72 balls.
When it seemed that Kohli would be successful in completing his 48th century, he was caught at mid-wicket off Hazlewood’s ball. When Kohli was returning to the pavilion, the audience stood up and greeted him. Hardik (11 not out) then hit the first six of the Indian innings on Hazlewood.
Rahul sent the ball to Glenn Maxwell for six. He could have reached his century by hitting fours and sixes but he thought it best to hit the winning six on Pat Cummins. Thus, India won the match by six wickets and KL Rahul sacrificed his century.