Jadeja’s 3/28, KL Rahul’s 97* help India beat 5-time ODI World Cup winners Australia by 6 wickets
Rohit Sharma said he wanted his white-ball teams to be prepared for situations where top order fails. “We have to prepare for when the team is 10 for 3,” he said on the Backstage with Boria show. “That’s how I want to move forward and get the message across to the boys who are batting at No.
3, 4, 5, 6.” He was speaking then in the context of T20 international cricket, but India went one better in their first match of the World Cup, being reduced to 2 for 3 in a 50-over game.
Set a target of only 200, there was a touch of flippancy, even an air of arrogance in the shots that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer played. Kishan drove loosely to nick off and Shreyas chipped straight to cover.
Sandwiched between the two, Rohit got one from Josh Hazlewood that nipped back in a touch and was trapped in front of his stumps, something he is vulnerable to early in his innings. For the first time in ODIs, three of India’s top four had been dismissed for ducks.
When Virat Kohli, slightly jumpy on the crease and in between, playing some trademark shots, popped a short-arm jab straight up in the air, 32,531 people at the MA Chidambaram Stadium held their breath.
Mitchell Marsh charged in, dove and got his hands to the ball but could not hold on. This reprieve seemed to focus Kohli and though he restricted himself in the range of shots he usually plays, he began to get more and more assured.
Kohli was helped along immensely by KL Rahul, who managed to get the scoreboard moving.
