India crushed Australia by 6 wickets on Sunday (8th October) at Chennai. KL Rahul's unbeaten 97* aided by Virat Kohli's classy 85 helped India thump Australia by 6 wickets and commence their World Cup journey.

Earlier, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. But after opting to bat they lost their dynamic opener Mitchell Marsh as Jasprit Bumrah removed him for a 6 ball duck. Experienced campaigners Steve Smith and David Warner took the rein and stitched a fine partnership of 69 runs before Warner gifted his wicket away to Kuldeep Yadav for 41 off 52 deliveries.

Steve Smith on the other hand was going strongly but his nemesis Jadeja bowled an absolute peach to remove the Aussie star batter after his 46 off 71 deliveries. Jadeja was breathing fire in the middle overs with picking up two wickets in the same over. He got Marnus Labuschagne and then trapped Alex Carey infront of his pads for LBW and Australia were reduced to 140-5. Maxwell was knocked over off Kuldeep Yadav and Green got a duck Australia were crumbling in blink of an eye. They were stuttering on 140-7. However late brilliant partnership from Cummins and Starc helped Australia score 199 on the board, which was below par on that pitch.

Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 3 wickets, Kuldeep Yadav came next with his 2 blows.
In reply, Australia were breathing fire with the ball. Mitchell Starc removed the stand in opener Ishan Kishan for a duck. Then Josh Hazlewood trapped the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for LBW for a duck and got Shreyas Iyer. India were crumbling on 2-3 and Australia were putting the pressure on.

Nevertheless, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul managed to handle the initial storm with a handy partnership. The duo was cool, composed and solid at the middle. They stood like walls infront of Aussie attack. Their partnership was worth of 165 runs before Kohli fell to Josh Hazlewood for an outstanding 85 off just 116 balls. KL Rahul on the other hand was unbeaten on 97* off only 115 balls to take India home. India started their home World Cup campaign with a thumping win of 6 wickets and Australia had a heavy loss.