STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsThe first game for the home team, India, in the 2023 World Cup, and they managed to cross the line with a bit of a hurdle. After a spectacular bowling performance, India had a meager target to chase.
However, the Australian pacers pegged back with early wickets, and the Men in Blue were in deep waters at 2/3. But, the duo of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul ensured no upset with a mammoth 165-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Here are a few records they set against Australia:
A monumental partnership
- The 165-run partnership between Kohli and Rahul is the highest for India against Australia in WC and the second-best overall against Australia. Only Lee Germon and Chris Harris of New Zealand (168) had a higher partnership against Australia in the 1996 WC at the same venue.
- India had lost three wickets for two runs when the pair got together, making this the lowest score by a team in ODIs that involves a 100-run stand for the fourth wicket.
- The pair have been rescuers in recent times for India. In the last five 50+ stands between Kohli and Rahul, the duo have joined hands within the 20th over in four innings. All have been for the third or lower wicket.
Kohli on top for India in ICC white-ball events
- The right-hander now has 2785 runs across the white-ball ICC tournaments (ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy, & T20 World Cup), the most by an Indian. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 2719 in this innings.
- With 2313 runs against Australia in ODIs, he is now the third-highest run scorer against them in this format. With his inclusion, it's an all-Indian top three, with Sachin leading with 3077 and Rohit Sharma at second (2332) against the Aussies.
- Kohli registered his 113th 50+ score in ODIs as a non-opener, the most by a non-opener. He went past Kumar Sangakkara's tally of 112.
- Kohli (13002), in this innings, became the third batter after Ricky Ponting (13432) and Sangakkara (13411) to score 13000+ runs as a non-opener in ODIs.
A horrendous start
- For the first time in ODIs, three out of India's top four suffered a duck in the same innings - Ishan Kishan 0 (1), Rohit 0 (6) and Shreyas Iyer 0 (3).
- India had lost three wickets for just two runs, their lowest score at the loss of three in ODIs. The previous lowest was 3/4 twice, against Zimbabwe in 2004 & Australia in 2019. Interestingly, there was a 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket in both of these matches. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid (133) in the Zimbabwe game, and MS Dhoni and Rohit (137) against Australia.
- India scored only 27 runs in the first ten overs. Only against Bangladesh in 2007 (24/2) and against New Zealand in 2019 (24/4), they had scored lower in WC since 2007.
- The last time both Indian openers suffered a duck in the same game was in 2004 against Zimbabwe. In a WC game, it was against the same team in the most famous 1983 match.
Few other stats
- David Warner registered 1000 WC runs in just 19 innings, making him the quickest by innings.
- Ravindra Jadeja (3/28) became the second Indian spinner after Maninder Singh (3/34) in 1987 in Delhi to bag a three-for against Australia in WC.
- Australia did not score a boundary between overs 19.4 to 31.4 in their innings. In an ODI WC innings (since 1999), only once have Australia faced more deliveries between boundaries than today (73 balls). Against Pakistan in 2011, their batters faced 105 deliveries (25.2 to 42.4) without a boundary.
- Australia lost six wickets to spin, their joint-most in a World Cup innings. The other game was in 1996 against Pakistan in Lahore.
- Mitchell Starc became the fifth bowler in WC to bag 50 wickets. He is the quickest by matches (19) and balls bowled (941). The previous best was Lasith Malinga in 1187 balls.
