World Cup Day 4: India start home tournament with big win against Australia

Chennai switched from yellow to blue yesterday as hosts India took on five times champions Australia in the heat of Chepauk. This 'Big 3' clash marked India's arrival at their home World Cup and marked the last of the first round of matches.

Australia opted for the first use of the pitch and suffered an almost immediate setback with the dismissal of Mitchell Marsh for a duck after he fended at a ball and got an outside edge to Virat Kohli at slip.

David Warner and Steve Smith were circumspect against some tight bowling from India's seam attack of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj; although they did take a liking to Hardik Pandya, his three overs conceded 28.

It was obvious from the start that spin would play a massive part in this match and Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin all had a big part to play with the ball. Jadeja took 3-28, including the wickets of Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, and Ashwin got extra bounce on his way to claiming 1-34 from his ten overs. Kuldeep Yadav's 2-42 included a sharp caught and bowled to dismiss Warner.

Australia, whose top scorer was Smith with 46, struggled to 199 all out with three balls to spare from the allocated overs.

The Australian bowlers had a strong start and in the initial powerplay looked like they might successfully defend the target. Ishan Kishan, in the side in place of Shubman Gill, outside edged a drive off the first ball that he faced. Rohit Sharma was then LBW soon after before Shreyas Iyer slapped the ball straight to cover and India were 2-3 at the end of the second over.

It was at this point the experience of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul shone through as they managed the run chase at a steady but effective pace. Kohli survived a dropped catch - Marsh putting down a reasonably simple chance following a miscommunication with Alex Carey.

The pair put on 165 before Kohli was dismissed for 85. Rahul hit the last ball of the match for six over extra cover to finish unbeaten on 97. His sheepish expression suggested that he had meant to hit it for four to give himself an additional ball to go to his 100 with a six.

Australia will now face South Africa in Lucknow and India will take on Afghanistan in Delhi. Today it is the turn of New Zealand and the Netherlands to play their second matches of the World Cup.