Top 5 spells by an Indian vs Australia in ODI World Cups ft. Roger Binny and Ravichandran Ashwin

India prepare to take on Australia in their first match of the 2023 Men's ODI World Cup on Sunday, October 8, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

India doesn't have the best of records against the Aussies, winning only four of their 12 World Cup encounters against the five-time champions. They did, however, beat Australia in the two sides' most recent meeting at the Oval in the 2019 edition of the World Cup.

However, in those 12 games, we've seen some special and memorable performances from India, including some unforgettable spells of bowling. Let's take a look at five such spells.

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#5 Ravichandran Ashwin - 2/52 in 10 overs, 2011 World Cup

Ravi Ashwin was a key player for India in their 2011 World Cup triumph.

These figures may not be the best, but what they meant to India in that all-important World Cup 2011 quarter-final against Australia makes it special. A young Ravichandran Ashwin was tossed the new ball by MS Dhoni to bowl against Shane Watson and Brad Haddin in their prime.

The up-and-coming off-spinner finished that powerplay with the wicket of Watson with a smart piece of bowling.

He wasn't afraid to bowl at the crucial stages of the match and was so good that Dhoni didn't have any qualms about giving him the 49th over of the game. There, he took the wicket of Ricky Ponting.

Ashwin's figures of 2/52 weren't even the best bowling figures of the match for India as Yuvraj and Zaheer had better numbers, but it's his early wicket of Watson that set the ball rolling for India.

His attacking bowling constantly caused problems for the Aussies and helped India tremendously in this must-win game that eventually led to them winning the World Cup.

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#4 Kapil Dev - 3/42 in 10 overs, 1992 World Cup

Sadly, this spell came in a losing cause, but it remains one of the most famous clashes between the two teams in ODI World Cup history. It was Match 12 of the '92 WC at Brisbane and Australia batted first.

Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar were India's wreckers-in-chief in that match, with Kapil picking up the big wickets for India. He single-handedly removed the dangerous Australian opening pair of Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor before returning later to get the prized scalp of captain Allan Border. His and Prabhakar's efforts restricted the home team to 237/9 in 50 overs.

Rain intervened, and India's revised target was 236 in 47 overs and sadly, India lost that much by one run, getting bowled out for 234 at the end of 47 overs. This was despite captain Mohammad Azharudeen's valiant 93.

Kapil made a quick-fire 21 with the bat as well, but couldn't quite get the job done for India on this occasion.

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#3 Kapil Dev - 5/43 in 12 overs, 1983 World Cup

You might remember this match as the one where Kapil waged a lone battle as Australia plundered away at the Indian bowlers. This was with an air of overconfidence looming over the Indian team after their unexpected success in the first two matches of the World Cup.

Kapil was at his very best in this match and castled Kepler Wessels early to give India the advantage as the Aussies opted to bat first. However, Trevor Chappell was dropped by Roger Binny, and that was the first of several fielding errors that left India frustrated on a day where little but Kapil Dev went right for them.

Trevor Chappell went on to make a fine hundred as Australia finished with 320/9, but Kapil Dev finished with a 5-fer, cleaning out the entire Australian middle and lower order on his own.

Sadly, that wasn't India's day at all as they were bowled out for 158, with Kapil the top-scorer by scoring a 27-ball 40.

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#2 Maninder Singh - 3/34 in 10 overs, 1987 World Cup

Left-arm spinner Maninder Singh bowled a match-winning spell against Australia in a group-stage match at Delhi in the '87 World Cup. Batting first, half-centuries from Sunil Gavaskar, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Mohammad Azharuddin helped India put up a commanding total of 289/6 in 50 overs.

In their tall chase of 290, Geoff Marsh and David Boon got Australia off to a good start, but that's when Maninder Singh spun a web around the Aussie batters.

In a spell that was too good for them, he picked up the key wickets of Geoff Marsh, Dean Jones, and the Australian captain Allan Border to set up India's victory, finishing with 3/34 in 10 overs.

India went on to bowl Australia out for 233, courtesy of a clean-up act of the tail from Mohammad Azharuddin himself, as India registered a resounding win.

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#1 Roger Binny - 4/29 in 8 overs, 1983 World Cup

Roger Binny almost single-handedly won India the virtual quarter-final against Australia in the '83 World Cup.

Who can forget an inspired Roger Binny's unplayable spell at Chelmsford to set up India's win that took them to the semi-finals of the 1983 World Cup? India needed to beat Australia to stand any chance of making the semi-finals and that they did with aplomb.

Batting first, India made 247 thanks to contributions from across the team, including a 32-ball 21 from Roger Binny.

When he got the red cherry in his hands, Binny made it sing. He ripped through the Australian batting lineup, reducing them from 46/1 to 52/4, getting Australia captain David Hookes in the process.

He later returned to pick up Tom Hogan's wicket to finish with 4/29 in 8 overs as India bowled Australia out for 129 and qualified for the semi-finals.

Binny rightfully received the POTM award in a match that was responsible for one of India's greatest sporting successes to date.