India defeated Australia by six wickets in their first match of the Cricket World Cup here today, thanks to a brilliant performance by the trio of spinners and batsmen Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Batting first, the Australian team was bowled out for 199 runs in 49.3 overs. India achieved this target by scoring 201 runs for the loss of four wickets in 41.2 overs. India’s innings got off to a disappointing start. India had lost three wickets in the form of captain Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer for just two runs. Later, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul added 165 runs for the fourth wicket and brought India close to victory. On the fourth ball of the 37th over, Josh Hazlewood took the wicket of Virat Kohli and tried to bring Australia back into the match, but by then it was too late. Rahul gave victory to India by hitting a six off the ball of Australian captain Pat Cummins.
Earlier, India bowled out Australia for 199 runs in 49.3 overs. No Australian batsman could even score a half century. Steve Smith scored the highest 46 runs for Australia. The spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja (three for 28), Kuldeep Yadav (two for 42) and Ravichandran Ashwani (one for 34) took six wickets for 104 runs in 30 overs. Similarly, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets for 35 runs while Mohammad Siraj and Hardik Pandya contributed one wicket each. Bumrah gave India a good start by dismissing Mitchell Marsh for a figure in his second over. Virat Kohli caught at slip. Thus, Kohli became the player who took the most catches in the World Cup for India. He broke the record of Anil Kumble (14 catches). Later, David Warner (41 off 52 balls) and Smith (46 off 71 balls) took over the innings and added 69 runs for the second wicket. After this, the Indian bowlers took wickets one after the other and dismissed Australia for 199 runs. -PTI
The competition between New Zealand and the Netherlands today
Hyderabad: New Zealand and Netherlands, who have played their first match in the One Day Cricket World Cup, will face each other tomorrow on Monday. New Zealand showed their intentions by defeating defending champions England by nine wickets in their first match on Thursday. England scored 282 runs for the loss of nine wickets and New Zealand achieved this target in 36.2 overs. New Zealand won this victory without their regular captain Kane Williamson. Due to the injury sustained in the IPL, Williamson could not play the first match. New Zealand head coach Gary Steed pointed out that Williamson is not fully fit even for the match against the Dutch team. In such a situation, Tom Latham will be the captain of the team. Similarly, bowler Tim Southee is also not set to play as he is yet to recover from a thumb injury. In the first match, the Dutch team lost to Pakistan by 81 runs. Although the Netherlands took three wickets from Pakistan in the powerplay, they could not maintain the rhythm afterwards. His opener Vikramjit Singh and Bas de Liede scored half-centuries. -PTI