Chennai, Oct 8 (Agency) India put up a clinical show against Australia in Chennai on Sunday (October 8) to get their World Cup campaign off to a winning start. India’s spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and R Ashwin posed problems on a surface that was on the slower side to keep Australia to 199 before KL Rahul and Virat Kohli starred in the chase. It wasn’t a straightforward chase for India by any stretch. For a side that was reduced to 5/3 in their last World Cup game in 2019, an encore was in store at Chepauk. Ishan Kishan failed to make use of his opportunity in place of Shubman Gill by chasing a wide delivery to get caught at slip in the very first over. More misery was in store in the second over of the chase when Josh Hazlewood caused havoc by dismissing both Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for ducks to stun the crowd and the dressing room.
Indian spinners led by Ravindra Jadeja’s three-fer rattled Australia by dismissing them for 199 in 49.3 overs in the 5th match of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup here on Sunday. The spinners shared six wickets among themselves with Jadeja picking up three, Kudeep Yadav two and Ravichandran Ashwin a wicket. Jasprit Bumrah was solid as he scalped 2 wickets for 35 in 10 overs, and was ably supported by Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya who finished with a wicket each. Jadeja was the wrecker-in-chief as he quickly removed Steven Smith (46), Marnus Labuschagne (27) and Alex Carey (0), leaving Australia tottering at 119/5 in 29.4 overs. Australia lost Mitchell Marsh (0) early to a beautiful ball off Bumrah which saw him edging to Virat Kohli who dived in the air to catch it. Warner and Smith handled the situation sensibly, and the latter was looking dangerous, but the southpaw’s dismissal provided the much-needed breakthrough for India. After Warner’s departure, the Indian spinners took over. Jadeja bowled a beauty to get rid of Smith and then Australian top-order fell like pack of cards. Slipping from 110/2 to 140/7, things looked bleak for Australia, but the lower-order clung on to add another 59 runs. Mitchell Starc scored a useful 28 before Australia innings folded.