ODI World Cup 2023: 'You drop king of chase and...,' Dav Whatmore on what went wrong for Australia vs India

Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97 not out) brought India back in India's 2023 ODI World Cup match against Australia on October 8 in Chennai after the hosts were reduced to three down for two runs. The duo added 165 runs for the fourth wicket and took the game away from Australia. India eventually won the game by six wickets, reaching the target of 201 in 41.2 overs.

Speaking on what went wrong for Australia, WION's cricket expert and 1996 World Cup winning coach Dav Whatmore said that Kohli's drop was very crucial. Australia had a chance to get Kohli out when he top edged a bouncer from Josh Hazlewood in the eighth over of the innings but Mitchell Marsh couldn't hold on to it.

"The king of chase, they put him down at 12 and he went on to score 80 (85) runs. You can't do that if you want to win games against good teams," said Whatmore.

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The former Australia cricketer, however, also said that Australia's didn't score enough runs first up despite starting off well.

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"Australia didn't score enough runs. They started off okay but didn't get enough runs but the Indian spinners had a big say in that," said Whatmore.

David Warner (41) and Steve Smith (43) had added 69 runs for the second wicket after Mitchell Marsh was sent back for a duck early on. Kuldeep Yadav broke the Smith-Warner stand before Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets to leave Australia reeling five down for 119 in 30 overs.

Jadeja dismissed Smith with a peach before sending back Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey in the same over.

India, however, didn't start well either while chasing a modest 200 as they lost three quick wickets in Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer.

"Yes, he could have stayed on for another over or two but that's academic," said Whatmore when asked if Mitchell Starc could have stayed on another a bit longer. Starc bowled three overs in his first spell and took the wicket of Kishan.

Watmore also said that the India batsmen should take more time before playing shots as Kishan and Iyer did, resulting in their dismissal.

"Take a bit of time. All three of them were rushing (to play shots). May be not Rohit so much as he got a good ball but Iyer and Kishan played not very good shots," added the former Aussie.

With the win, India got much needed two points to start their 2023 World Cup campaign with a win. They next play Afghanistan on October 11 in New Delhi before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan on October 14 in Ahmedabad.