Virat Kohli and KL Rahul engineered one of the great fightbacks in ODI cricket as India defeated Australia to open their World Cup campaign in style in Chennai on Sunday.
Chasing a tricky target of 200, India were in all sorts of trouble at three down for just two runs. It would have been worse had Mitchell Marsh not dropped a simple chance off Kohli.
But from there, it was the Kohli-Rahul show.
Former India captain Kohli took his time to settle down before opening up, scoring a majestic 85 as the hosts ultimately eased to a six-wicket win.
He added 165 in the company of Rahul, who made a near flawless 97 not out to underline his importance in India’s batting order.
The Aussies had made the perfect start with the new ball. Mitchell Starc, bowling the first over, induced a loose drive from new opener Ishan Kishan and the left-handed batsman barely reached the delivery, only edging it to first slip.
In the next over, Josh Hazlewood got one to move back in sharply to hit captain Rohit Sharma in front of the stumps. Even a review could not save him as both India openers were out for a duck to leave the home team shell-shocked at 2-2.
Hazlewood then completed the top-order decimation by getting Shreyas Iyer caught driving at cover. It was the first time that India’s first three batsmen had been dismissed for ducks in the same ODI.
The tournament hosts would have been in even deeper trouble had Marsh held on to a regulation miscue from Kohli to square leg. Had Marsh held on, India would have been 20-4 and the match could well have ended there.
But Kohli survived, and then flourished, as both he and Rahul played out the new ball threat of Starc, Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.
Once the spinners and Cameron Green came on, the pressure was released and both went about rebuilding the innings.
Three fours off leg-spinner Adam Zampa’s bowling in the 18th over by Rahul broke the shackles. Then, as the evening dew set it, batting became easier.
Kohli and Rahul put together 165 runs for the fourth wicket, which ended when Kohli chipped one to mid-wicket 15 short of a deserved century.
He hit six fours in his 116-ball innings for one of his best knocks in World Cups.
Rahul took his team past the finish line, finishing three short of his century. He faced 115 balls and hit eight fours and two sixes.
Rahul secured victory by cover driving Cummins for a six as India reached the target with 52 balls to spare, boosting their net run rate.
Earlier, Australia started their innings cautiously on a two-paced wicket. In-form batsman Marsh departed early, edging Jasprit Bumrah to slip. But experienced batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith blunted the new-ball attack expertly, before the spinners came in early.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav got appreciable purchase as the pitch began to disintegrate in the first half of the innings.
Left-arm spinner Yadav got things rolling, deceiving Warner in the air to draw out a return catch. Ravindra Jadeja then got the biggest scalp of the innings as he breached the defence of a well-set Smith on 46, hitting off stump to beat a forward defence.
Jadeja then ran through the middle order, getting Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carrey in one over before Yadav broke the back of Australia’s batting by uprooting the leg stump of Glenn Maxwell.
At 140-7 in the 37th over, Australia were in danger of folding for under 150. But some calm batting from Starc (28) and captain Cummins (15) ensured the Aussies played out most of the 50 overs and also gave the hosts a target of 200.
India were forced to change their bowling plans early as seamer Hardik Pandya hurt his bowling finger. He only bowled three overs, which meant the spinners were pressed into action earlier and all had to complete their quota of overs. In the end, Jadeja (3-28), Yadav (2-42) and Ashwin (1-34) kept their runs down and took key wickets in the middle phase to derail Australia’s batting.
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
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Man of the match James Maddison (Leicester)
