India handed a six-wicket defeat to five-time champions Australia in their first match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday (Octobver 8). While ultimatey the Men in Blue reached there comfortably with 52 balls remaining, India were 2/3 at one stage and were pretty close to being further reduced to 20/4 when Virat Kohli top-edged a pull short against Josh Hazlewood who had already removed Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for ducks by then.
It looked like further misery for India but to much to the delight of the home fans, what would have been a staightforward catch was dropped by Mitchell Marsh. Kohli, who was batting on 12 then, went on to score 85 as India emerged victorious. Soon after the win, local boy Ravichandran Ashwin shared his reaction when he saw Kohli ball go up in the air. He revealed that he rushed out of the dressing room, anticipating the catch would be taken.
“When I saw Virat Kohli’s ball go up in the air, I ran outside the dressing room.I literally ran all the way outside. I didn’t know what to do. I was like ‘just wake me up when it’s all over’. It was that sort of a feeling,” Ashwin told official broadcasters Star Sports after India’s victory.
“Look, I think we have found ourselves in this sort of situation in important big games. When you play Australia, it’s never a small game. You do well, shot them off for 199. You think you are going to coast home and then the last thing you want is Virat Kohli getting out like that. The moment the crowd erupted, I ran back into the dressing room. I stood in the same place for the entire innings. My feet is actually paining,” he added.
Ashwin picked 1/34 in this match as India went in with 3 spinners who shared six wickets between them with Ravindra Jadeja being the leader of the pack at Chepaauk with figures of 3/28.