ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, IND vs AUS: Over the years, bowlers in international cricket have had their bunnies and it is no different when it comes to one of the most riveting rivalries in world cricket between India and Australia. Harbhajan Singh vs Ricky Ponting, Ravichandran Ashwin vs David Warner, Josh Hazlewood vs Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal vs Glenn Maxwell are a few from a long list.

On Sunday, Ravindra Jadeja joined the long list by dismissing Steven Smith for a record 11th time as the left-arm spinner spearheaded an Australian collapse with three quick wickets to help India restrict the Kangaroos for 199 in their ICC World Cup 2023 opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here. Jadeja’s spin partners, Ravichandran Ashwin (2/34) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/42) also played their parts to perfection.

In response, Australia fired in equal or even greater intensity, by removing the opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer for golden ducks before Virat Kohli, arguably the master of run chases, arrived in the middle.

Barring a minor blip when a running Mitchell Marsh dropped Kohli (or probably the match) off a top-edge on 12, it was vintage Kohli doing Kohli things. To his advantage, at the other end, he had KL Rahul, who has reinvented himself as one of the best middle-order batters in recent times.

The right-handed Indian pair took their time to get their eyes in, but never lacked in intensity against the Pat Cummins-led outfit, who instead of continuing with his wicket-taking pair of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, got himself into the attack and allowed the Indians to take their chances.

The game slipped from the Australians’ grasp at that point with the Indian pair perfectly mixing caution with aggression to unsettle the new bowlers. While Kohli reached his 67th ODI half century off 75 balls with a two off Cummins, Rahul got to a well-deserved fifty in 72 balls as the duo eventually added 165 runs for the fourth wicket to take India near the finish line.

Kohli, however, departed after slamming 85 off 116 balls, laced with six hits to the ropes, but Rahul ensured he stayed till the end, hitting the winning run with a six over cover to walk back undefeated on 97 off 115, powered by 8 fours and two sixes. Hardik Pandya also chipped in with a 8-ball 11 to help India kick off their campaign with a six-wicket victory.

Earlier, back in familiar territory, thanks to his decade-plus association with the Chennai Super Kings, Jadeja later stamped his class with the ball in hand after Australia won the toss and opted to bat on a slow turner.

The 34-year-old Saurashtra tweaker tilted the game in India’s favour by weaving his magic around the Australian top order that pecked the visitors onto the backfoot, and could never recover from the assaults throughout their innings. In a space of nine balls, Jadeja ensured a well-set Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey were back in the hut, leaving the Kangaroos rattled.

Jadeja brought India back into the game with an absolute beauty to leave Smith bamboozled, after the right-hander faced 71 deliveries for his 46 runs, inclusive of five boundaries, and more importantly stitched together a 69-run second wicket stand with David Warner to steady the ship after Jasprit Bumrah rocked Australia upfront with the wicket of Mitchell Marsh for a duck.

He came back to further dent the visitors with two more scalps in his next over. Under pressure of accelerating the run-rate, Labuschagne went for an uncharacteristic sweep shot, and the under-cutter bowled by Jadeja found a faint edge into KL Rahul’s gloves, and two balls later, Alex Carry was trapped in front for a duck.

Earlier, Warner found ways to clear the ropes on six occasions, especially against the pacers and once against Ashwin, until the southpaw misread a tossed up delivery from left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav to end up giving a simple return catch to the bowler after scoring 41 from 52 deliveries.

The wickets of the experienced duo of Warner and Smith, left Australia at 110 for 3, and gave an opportunity for the Indian spinners to call the shots. The Indian spin trio went by the script, and choked the flow of runs, so much that it took the Australians 73 balls to score a boundary after the 20th over of the innings. Australia played as many as 176 dot balls out of which 101 came from the spinners, clearly showing their dominance at the slow turning Chepauk wicket.

Reduced to 119 for 5, Glenn Maxwell (15) managed to end the boundary drought in the 32nd over before perishing to Kuldeep, while Cameron Green (8) fell to a brilliant catch by Hardik Pandya off Ashwin. Skipper Pat Cummins (15) and Mitchell Starc (28) pumped in a few lusty hits to propel the Australians to 199.