Kohli, Kl quell oz threat

CHENNAI: Virat Kohli didn’t quite walk up to Mitchell Marsh to impart nuggets of wisdom on the significance of holding on to catches, but he certainly played a Steve Waughesque knock that went a long way towards bailing India out of the woods against Australia in both teams’ World Cup opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday.

Kohli was on 12 and was busy going about rebuilding an innings that had the makings of a debilitating collapse, similar to the situation that Waugh had found himself in at Headingley in the 1999 World Cup against South Africa in a must-win Super Six clash.

And just as Herschelle Gibbs threw an unexpected lifeline to Waugh then, this time around it was the turn of Marsh to spill a sitter off Josh Hazlewood with India tottering at 20 for three.

At that juncture its captain Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were all dismissed for zero. The scoreboard looked even more dire, and made for grim reading, at one stage as the home team was placed at 2 for three in two overs.

The Indian fans, who came out in droves, attired in the team’s colours, were a worried lot unsure of what lay in store but there lingered a smidgeon of hope that as long as Kohli held fort he would avert disaster no matter how potent the bowling was and how big a mountain there was to climb.

That unshakeable faith in his batting prowess and match-winning credentials, especially when the team was chasing, prevented them from making a dash for the exit. And how tellingly he repaid that faith, for the umpteenth time against an adversary that he has a great fondness for, assuaging their fears in the company of an industrious KL Rahul as the duo put on a highly enterprising partnership of 165 runs off 215 balls.

Kohli eventually got out for 85 (116b, 6x4) and Rahul was not out on 97 (115b, 84, 2x6) as they helped India chase down 199 with 8.4 overs to spare and six wickets remaining.

Rahul grew in confidence as the innings wore on and he should be credited with seizing the initiative of putting an end to the bowling team’s dominance in the initial phase. And he quite fittingly finished the proceedings with a six off Pat Cummins over long-off.

Once India rode out the early storm, however tempestuous it was, it wasted no time in taking a stranglehold.

Earlier, India’s much-vaunted spin troika of Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and R Ashwin lived up to their promise by taking six wickets between them to restrict Australia to 199. What stood out in particular was Jadeja bowling an absolute peach to bamboozle a well-set Steven Smith that triggered a batting implosion with Australia struggling to mount a recovery from thereon.

From a healthy 110 for two, it found itself reeling at 140 for seven. The fact that it got to 199 could largely be ascribed to Mitchell Starc’s resilient 28 (35b, 2x4, 1x6).

The resounding victory for India, coming after a horrid start, against a fellow title contender will undoubtedly be a shot in the arm and put a spring in its step ahead of its upcoming matches.

Even the elements that are beyond their control played the role of a dutiful child, refraining from raining on its victorious parade.

BRIEF SCORES: Australia 199 in 49.3 overs (S Smith 46, D Warner 41, R Jadeja 3/28) lost to India 201/4 in 41.2 overs (KL Rahul 97*, V Kohli 85, J Hazlewood 3/38)