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India started their 2023 World Cup campaign with a win against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, 8 October. The end result looked quite decisive, but there were moments in the match where India was under a lot of pressure. It took a brilliant partnership between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul to bail India out and get them across the line.
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In a candid session after the match, Kohli, who also picked up a smart catch in the slips, was awarded best fielder by fielding coach T Dilip. BCCI shared the video of the post-match scenes and Kohli sparkled in the dressing room with an infectious enthusiasm reminiscent of a child.
Here’s the video:
📽️ BTS from the #TeamIndia 🇮🇳 dressing room 😃👌 – By @28anand
A kind of first 🥇 #CWC23 | #INDvAUS
And the best fielder of the match award goes to….🥁
WATCH 🎥🔽https://t.co/wto4ehHskB
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 9, 2023
Speaking about the match, Australia batted first after winning the toss, but they were unable to assert any dominance on a pitch that was sluggish and had help for the Indian spinners. Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, and Kuldeep Yadav combined to pick up six wickets as Australia were shot out for 199.
In response, India were tottering at 3 wickets for 2 runs when Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, and Shreyas Iyer all walked back without scoring. This was when Rahul joined ranks with Kohli and took the match away from Australia. While Kohli was dismissed for 85, Rahul stayed unbeaten on 97 and bagged the Player of the Match award.
“Virat said that I should play like Test cricket for a bit. Happy to play this for the team. There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers early on. Towards the end, the dew played a bit of a part for them. It was still two-paced. It wasn’t a great wicket to bat on, neither was it too difficult,” Rahul said after the match.
India will now take on Afghanistan in New Delhi before the much-awaited clash against Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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