Dhaka – A brilliant century by Shikhar Dhawan and a captain’s knock of 82 by Virat Kohli propelled India to a challenging total of 352 for five in 50 overs against Australia in their second match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup at Kennington Oval in London on Sunday.
Defending world champions Australia never conceded as many runs in a World Cup match before allowing Indian batsmen to set a new record in the match.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first. Indian openers — Dhawan and Rohit Sharma — proved that the decision of batting was right scoring 127 runs in the opening stand.
At the end of 10th over, India made 41 for no loss. They added more power to their batting after initial settlement and Dhawan and Rohit added 70 runs from 11-20 overs. During the overs, they scored seven runs per over.
Australia failed to make early breakthrough in spite of putting pressure on them.
Rohit was the first man to get dismissed scoring 57 runs off 70 balls before he was removed by Nathan Coulter-Nile. He was fidgety throughout his innings after a slow start. He prodded a catch to the wicketkeeper after two dot balls. The ball was short and outside off stump. Rohit went to cut it through the point area but failed.
However, the dismissal did not come as a relief for the Australian as Dhawan and Kohli added 93 runs in the third wicket stand.
Dhawan fell after registering his 17th ODI hundred. He ended up on 117 off 109 with 16 fours. The southpaw was hunted by Mitchel Starc.
India continued to rule over the Australian bowling attack as Kohli and Hardik Pandya added 81 more runs in the fourth wicket stand. In his blazing innings, Pandya posted 48 off just 27 balls with four fours and three sixes. Had not he removed by Pat Cummins, India would have enjoyed a bigger total on the board.
Eventually, India’s innings came to the end losing two wickets in the last over as MS Dhoni (27 off 14 with three fours and one six) and Kohli (82 off 77 with four fours and two sixes) were removed by Marcus Stoinis.
For Australia, Stoinis bagged two wickets while Cummins, Starc and Coulter-Nile shared one wicket each.UNB
