India recover from nightmare start in chase to ease past Australia

World Cup hosts India recovered from a horror start to their run chase to secure a resounding six-wicket win over Australia in Chennai.

India were reeling on 2-3 in a pursuit of 200 after skipper Rohit Sharma, opening partner Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed for ducks inside the first two overs.

However, KL Rahul (97no) and Virat Kohli (85) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 165 as India clinched victory with 52 balls remaining – Rahul ending the game with a six after Kohli was dismissed with 33 runs required.

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Score summary

Australia 199 all out in 49.3 overs: Ravindra Jadeja (3-28), Jasprit Bumrah (2-35), Kuldeep Yadav (2-42); Steve Smith (46 off 71)

India 201-4 in 41.2 overs: KL Rahul (97no off 115), Virat Kohli (85 off 116); Josh Hazlewood (3-38)

The match could have panned out differently had Mitchell Marsh not dropped Kohli on 12 but Kohli was superb from that point on, scoring his 67th ODI fifty with Rahul notching his 16th.

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Virat Kohli was dropped on 12 by Mitchell Marsh and went on to score 85

Ravindra Jadeja (3-28) had earlier led a spin-bowling clinic from India, bowling Steve Smith (46) with a beauty to trigger a collapse as Pat Cummins’ side slipped from 110-2 to 119-5 and then 199 all out on a slow pitch in hot temperatures.

Jadeja, playing on his IPL home ground, ripped the herat out of the Australia innings, dismissing Smith in the 28th over and then Marnus Labuschagne (27) and Alex Carey (0) in the 30th.

The left-arm spinner was backed up by fellow slow bowlers Kuldeep Yadav (2-42) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1-34) as well as seamer Jasprit Bumrah (2-35), with Kuldeep catching David Warner (41) off his own bowling after the Australia opener had passed 1,000 runs across all Cricket World Cups.

India return to action against Afghanistan in Delhi on Wednesday with Australia facing South Africa in Lucknow on Thursday, the side that plundered the highest score in World Cup history against Sri Lanka on Saturday when they made 428-5.

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KL Rahul’s six clinched victory for India – but he was left three runs short of a seventh ODI century

Jadeja, Bumrah, Rahul and Kohli star in India win

Australia were unable to ignite with the bat after winning the toss with Warner and Smith’s 69-run stand coming from 85 balls and the 36 Smith added with Labuschagne taking 64.

Jadeja led the squeeze India put on the five-time champions, going at under three an over and taking three wickets in two overs, starting when he spun a ball onto Smith’s off stump.

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Ravindra Jadeja took the big wicket of Australia’s Steve Smith, triggering a collapse

Kuldeep followed his dismissal of Warner by bowling Glenn Maxwell (15) with a delivery that turned to hit leg stump as the batter hacked across the line.

Seam bowler, Bumrah, meanwhile, nicked off Marsh for a duck early on, thanks to a fine diving catch from Kohli at slip, and then had Cummins (15) caught at long-on late in the innings amid the Australia captain and Mitchell Starc (28) adding lower-order runs.

Starc nicked off Kishan in the first over of India’s chase as the opener, playing due to Shubman Gill’s illness, slashed at a wide delivery, while Josh Hazlewood then pinned Rohit lbw and had Shreyas caught at cover in the second over.

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Australia reduced India to 2-3 as the home side chased 200 in Chennai, with Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer out for ducks

India should have been four down in the eighth over when Kohli ballooned a Hazlewood short ball into the leg-side but Marsh grassed the chance on the run, perhaps put off as he threatened to collide with wicketkeeper Carey.

Kohli and Rahul went on to blunt Australia’s attack and it came as a shock when the former swatted a Hazlewood short ball to Labuschagne at midwicket, with a 48th ODI hundred looking there for the taking.

Rahul missed out on a hundred, too, hitting Cummins too well over extra cover with five runs required as a six left him three runs short of a seventh ODI century.

What’s next?

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New Zealand – who thrashed defending champions England by nine wickets in Thursday’s tournament opener – meet Netherlands in Hyderabad on Monday (9.30am start).

England will look to bounce back from their loss to the Black Caps when they face Bangladesh in Dharamshala on Tuesday (6am start).

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