Virat Kohli’s brilliant catch at slips provided India with an early breakthrough in the Cricket World Cup 2023 match against Australia in Chennai. Mitchell Marsh, looking nervous, ended up edging a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah straight towards the slips, where Kohli made no mistake in completing the catch. The celebrations erupted as Bumrah and the team recognized the importance of the wicket.
Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, won the toss and elected to bat first against India. Marcus Stoinis missed out on playing in Chennai due to a hamstring injury, as Australia marked their 150th ODI fixture with India. The stadium was half-full before the match began, with thousands of fans waiting outside. This match is expected to witness a packed house, which is in contrast to the mostly empty stadiums seen throughout the tournament so far.
Injured Travis Head was “on a couch in Adelaide” according to Cummins, while Sean Abbott, Josh Inglis, and Stoinis also missed out. On the Indian side, opener Shubman Gill has not recovered from dengue fever, and Ishan Kishan has made the team to open the batting.
India is considered one of the favorites to win the 50-over crown at home and end their world title drought since the 2013 Champions Trophy. Their last World Cup victory was in 2011.
The teams for the match are as follows:
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Australia: David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
(Source with AFP inputs)