India vs Australia, World Cup 2023: Virat Kohli breaks Sachin Tendulkar’s record, KL Rahul’s unique feat and more stats

India defeated Australia by six wickets in their opening clash of the 2023 Cricket World Cup in Chennai on Sunday. The Men in Blue rode on knocks from Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97*) to see India through and collect their first points of the tournament.

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After restricting Australia to 199, India were in trouble early on in the chase. The hosts lost skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer as the trio were dismissed without scoring. However, from 2 for 3 at one stage, Kohli and Rahul stepped up when it mattered the most. The duo forged a 165-run stand for the fourth wicket to eventually seal the win for India.

The match saw numerous records being broken. Let’s now take a look at some of the most important stats:

• India’s score of 2 for 3 was the lowest score at the loss of the third wicket, where the team eventually went onto win an ODI. This was just the fourth time, when a team was three down during a low score and went onto win the game.
• KL Rahul’s unbeaten 97 was the second highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper batter in a World Cup match. Rahul Dravid, India’s current head coach, holds this record having scored 145 against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup.
• Australia have played 19 World Cup matches in India, and this was only their fourth defeat.
• Virat Kohli overtook Sachin Tendulkar to become India’s top run-getter in ICC’s limited-overs tournaments. Kohli now has 2785 runs, whereas Sachin had 2719 runs.
• Since the 2000s began, this was Australia’s first defeat in the opening match of an ODI World Cup in this century. Australia had registered wins in their opening matches of the 50-over World Cup between 2003 and 2019 editions.