Virat Kohli and KL Rahul played a starring role to help India overcome Australia following their six-wicket win in their opening Cricket World Cup match on Sunday.

India lost three batters in the first two overs and all of them failed to score as they tried to reach the difficult target of 200. Kohli (85) and Rahul (97 not out) then put on 165 runs.

There were 52 balls left over, which meant victory.

In the 150th ODI between these two cricket giants, Ravindra Jadeja bowled Australia out for 199 runs in 49.3 overs. He had three wickets and two eights.

Then, after left-arm quick Mitchell Starc bowled Ishan Kishan out for a duck in the first over, Australia’s fast bowlers went all out to rattle the Indian top order.

Josh Hazlewood got two wickets in the next over, first lbw to captain Rohit Sharma and then nought to Shreyas Iyer caught at cover. This got the 32,531 people in the stadium to quiet down.

It was almost four down when Hazlewood got Kohli to top-edge a ball, but Mitchell Marsh dropped a skier. At that time, Kohli was on 12.

Kohli took advantage of the break when his star batsman reached his 67th ODI fifty. He raised his bat to acknowledge the loud cheers.

In the 28th over, Rahul quickly hit fifty. India was now in charge with a score of 106-3.

After a long fight, Kohli was finally out by Hazlewood at mid-wicket. He walked off to a standing ovation.

Hardik Pandya hit the winning six with Rahul at the other end.

“I had just taken a shower and was hoping to put my feet up for half an hour after the fielding innings, but I had to come in,” said Rahul of his unexpectedly early arrival at the crease.

“Virat said that I should play like Test cricket for a bit.”

Australia captain Pat Cummins admitted his team had been “50 runs short”.

“Facing the spinners was tough and it was the kind of wicket you had to get yourself in.”

Five times winners Australia won the toss and chose to bat first, but they had trouble.

In his 10 overs of left-arm spin, Jadeja stood out. Kuldeep Yadav, another spin bowler, and Jasprit Bumrah, a fast bowler, both got two wickets.

Australia lost a wicket early on, but David Warner (41) and Steve Smith (46) came back with a partnership of 69 runs.

Kohli got things going right away with a diving slip catch off Bumrah that sent Marsh back for a six-ball duck.

Warner, who bats with his left hand, scored 1,000 runs in the World Cup, beating Sachin Tendulkar’s previous record. Warner needed 19 innings, while Tendulkar only needed 20.

Warner was caught and bowled by Kuldeep, a left-arm wrist spinner, who broke the stand.

Smith couldn’t get to fifty because Jadeja bowled him, and in his next over, he got two wicketkeeper-batsmen out for ducks, which shook the other team’s batting.

Before Cummins hit the first six of the match, Australia fell from 110-2 to 140-7. He then was out for 15.

Mitchell Starc hit 28 to add some respect to the score. He is ranked ninth.

Photo by Faheim Husain/Shutterstock