ODI World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma reflects on India's poor start despite Kohli, Rahul heroics, 'I was nervous'

India captain Rohit Sharma reflected on his team’s performance in the ODI World Cup opener against Australia on Sunday (Oct 8) after his side won by six wickets. Despite the win, India needed to weather the early storm from the Aussie pace attack as the hosts were reduced to 2/3. However, heroics from KL Rahul and Virat Kohli saw the Indian team home, having stitched a 165-run stand for the third wicket.

Rohit on India’s win

“I was (nervous), you don't want to start your innings like that, credit to the Aussie's bowlers as they bowled in good areas but some loose shots as well, when you have that kind of target you want to score as much as possible in the powerplay, but credit to Virat and KL on how they went about the chase.

“That is going to be the challenge for us as a team, moving to different conditions and adapting, whoever suits the conditions will have to come and do the job. Chennai never disappoints, they love their cricket, and for them to sit in that heat and come out and cheer for the team says a lot,” Rohit said in the post-match interview.

Tasked to chase 200, the pair of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc crushed India to 2/3, revisiting memories from the 2019 World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand. Like today, India were reduced to 5/3 at that time which paved the way for their World Cup exit. Ishan Kishan, Rohit, and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed for ducks in the first powerplay before Rahul and Virat came to India’s rescue.

The pair were no-nonsense with their approach as Virat scored 85 runs while Rahul remained unbeaten on 97. Their partnership led the foundation for India’s win in Chennai while Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 11.

What happened in Australia’s innings?

Spinners headlined India’s ODI World Cup opener against Australia on Sunday (Oct 8). The Men in Blue restricted Australia to 199 runs in their innings. India, playing with three spinners in their first match of the World Cup, saw the decision justified as the trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav scalped wickets in tandem.

Playing three spinners, it was Jasprit Bumrah who started India’s trade of wickets when he got the better of Mitchell Marsh for a duck on the second ball of the third over. David Warner (41) and Steve Smith (46) then stitched a 69-run stand for the second wicket before Kuldeep sent the former back to the pavilion. Smith and Labuschagne (27) then tried to bring the Aussies back on track before Ravindra Jadejashowed his class.

With Australia 140/7, the tail-enders showed good resilience to steer their side to 199 with India now needing to push with their batting line-up. For India, Jadeja ended with three wickets while Bumrah and Kuldeep scalped two each. There were wickets each for Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, and Mohammed Siraj.

India will next take on Afghanistan on Wednesday (Oct 13) in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium while Australia will take on South Africa on Thursday in Lucknow.

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