Team India opened their 2023 World Cup campaign with a comprehensive six-wicket victory over Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday (October 8).
Chasing 200 to win, the Men in Blue found themselves in deep trouble at 2/3 after two overs. It could have been 20/4 but Mitchell Marsh dropped an easy catch to give Virat Kohli a reprieve on 12.
As it turned out, Australia paid the price for this missed opportunity, with Kohli sharing a 165-run partnership with KL Rahul to put India in driver’s seat.
While Virat fell after scoring 85 off 116 balls, Rahul held the one end firmly and stayed unbeaten on 97 off 115 balls alongside Hardik Pandya (11*) to take India over the line with 8.4 overs to spare.
After the game, veteran spinner R Ashwin opened up on his emotions in the dressing room when the team was reeling in the powerplay during the chase.
“When I saw Virat Kohli's ball went up in the air, I ran outside the dressing room. I literally ran outside the dressing room, I was like thinking wake me up when it's all over. It's a World Cup game against Australia so you don't expect anything easy. It's a big game and when you are shot for 199, do you think you expected us to coast home. I ran back into the dressing room and the crowd erupted. I stayed in the same place for the entire game. My legs are paining now actually,” Ashwin said on Star Sports.
Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja (3-28), Jasprit Bumrah (2-35) and Kuldeep Yadav (2-42) ran through the Aussie batting line-up with seven wickets among them.
Sharing his views on the Chepauk track, Ashwin stated: “I played a lot of cricket in Chennai. It is a quite unlike Chennai pitch, with lots of cracks. You saw how Hazlewood and the Aussies bowled in the 2nd innings. We were actually a little concerned at how it would pan out. The crowd always gets behind us here. Thankfully we lost the toss and Jadeja was on a roll after he got the ball.”
Reflecting on his own bowling, the off-spinner said: “It's more than the pace, it's difficult for the bowlers to bowl at a particular speed. It's about getting the sidespin and overspin right, getting my body into position - all of these things. It's about getting that right for me. For me it usually takes about 6-8 balls to get that right.”
Ashwin, who returned with the bowling figures of 1/34 in his 10 overs, added: “I need to pick my Whatsapp messages and go on Twitter to find out. But I need to stay out of social media [smiles]. The day I was picked, everyone near my area said you will win us the World Cup. I was like dude... [smiles]. As long as I keep performing for India, I will be happy. I have played for 13 years and want to continue to deliver.”
Nearly a month ago, Ashwin was not in the selection reckoning for the World Cup. However, he was drafted into the squad after Akshar Patel failed to recover from his quadriceps injury.
Talking about his last-minute inclusion, Ashwin said: “It was more like a May day call, I was chilling at home, played a couple of club games but Rohit and Rahul [Dravid] had told me that if there is a situation we will come back to you, I just told them jokingly that hope you never come back to me [smiles].”
India’s next World Cup match is scheduled against Afghanistan at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday (October 11).
