India vs Australia World Cup 2023: Kohli, KL Rahul power IND to six wickets win

Australia were all out for 199 with the Indian spinners keeping them under the pump but any advantage India may have gained from their performance with the ball and in the field was almost nullified by the nightmarish start they got off to with the bat.

Ishan Kishan fell for a golden duck while Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer fell for ducks as well and India found themselves tottering at 2/3 in 2 overs.

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul then did some rebuilding to shift the pressure back onto the Aussies. The pair added 165(215) balls for the fourth wicket before Kohli was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood for 85(116). Hardik Pandya has joined the proceedings as India look to wrap things quickly.

Earlier, Australia’s struggles began with Jasprit Bumrah bagging the wicket of Mitchell Marsh off the second ball of the third over. Steve Smith and David Warner then seemed to settle Australia with a 69-run partnership off 85 balls but the latter fell on 41 off 52 balls to Kuldeep Yadav. Australia never managed to look quite as steady as they did during that stand. They were 110/2 when Smith fell in 28th over to Ravindra Jadeja and they went on to lose their next eight wickets for 89 runs.

Jadeja took three wickets for 28 runs, with two of those coming in the same over. Kuldeep took two while Ravichandran Ashwin took one. Pacers Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya were all among the wickets as well. Bumrah dismissed Australia captain Pat Cummins, apart from accounting for Marsh, while Siraj and Pandya took a wicket each.

Here are the key pointers surrounding the India vs Australia World Cup clash:

– Australia were all out for 199

– India ended up losing their first three wickets for two runs, both of which came from extras

– Spinners reigned supreme with Ravindra Jadeja returning figures of 3/28 and Kuldeep Yadav recording 2/42

– Ravichandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Siraj took a wicket each

– Jasprit Bumrah returned figures of 2/35 while Siraj returned figures of 1/26