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Team India stalwart Virat Kohli once again asserted his credentials as the premier chaser in white-ball cricket. He delivered a match-winning knock in the 2023 World Cup against Australia on Sunday, October 8.
India faced the five-time World Champions in their opening match of the mega tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on the weekend. A slow and dry surface welcomed the sides as Australia won the toss and chose to bat first in the contest. Team India bowlers skittled them out for 199 in 49.3 overs.
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood then reduced India to 2/3 inside the first two overs of the chase. In the crunch situation, Virat Kohli rose to the occasion yet again and anchored the innings to perfection to guide India to a win. KL Rahul supported him well with an impressive knock at the other end.
Virat Kohli used his experience and build the innings by displaying nerves of steel after the top order collapsed meekly. His 85 (116) comprised only six fours as he ran hard between the wickets to milk runs without taking any risks for the sake of the team. He eventually got out in the 38th over, trying to finish the match quickly. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya completed the chase in the 42nd over after that.
Fans were highly impressed with Virat Kohli's match-defining knock against Australia and expressed their reactions by sharing memes on Instagram. Here are some of the best ones:
"Hats off to KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, they got us over the line"- Rohit Sharma after the win against Australia
Team India captain Rohit Sharma reserved special praise for Virat Kohli and KL Rahul for playing magnificent knocks under pressure for India against a strong Australian side. After the conclusion of the match, Rohit said:
"Hats off to KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, they got us over the line. We're going to play on different pitches and different conditions. That is going to be the biggest challenge for us."
"We've been talking about it in our group and everyone needs to be prepared to contribute whenever called upon. Pretty exciting, good feeling to come out on top. A good way to start the tournament, pleasing to see."
On his side's bowling and fielding performance in the first innings, Rohit added:
"It was magnificent. We take a lot of pride in that part of our game. We really really put our efforts into that. In conditions like this, it can be difficult. We wanted to do the job at hand and we did that perfectly. We knew there would be some assistance for everyone. The spinners bowled in the right areas and the pacers got some help as well."
Team India will next square off against Afghanistan in their second match of the 2023 World Cup on Wednesday (October 11) in Delhi.
