India beat Australia in his opening match of World Cup after a Disastrous start to his run chase by losing its three wickets just under two overs. Its seems to be very difficult for India to win this match after a poor start but it become possible for India to win his first match in this tournament because of run chase master Virat Kholi and master class KL Rahul sharing a partnership of 165 runs in a high pressure game . Australia put 199 on the board by electing to bat first on the low scoring encounter at Chepauk.
Captain Rohit Sharma , Ishan Kishan and exclusive batsman Shreyas Iyer fails to open their account. It is the first time in the history that India’s top four batsman goes for duck in ODI’s. India also scored its second lowest power play score in World Cup.
But it does not matter for Virat Kholi and its master batting which brings India out of the disaster . Virat gets the suport from KL Rahul to win India’s first match .Kholi played a masterknock of 85 in 166 balls after getting dropped by Mitchell Marsh on 12 bowl by Josh Hazelwood . Virat hits only 6 boundaries in his innings. Former player Gautam Gambhir impressed from this approach and mindset of Kholi. He also liked his fitness as he continously running between the wickets for singles and doubles in the run chase with Rahul.
Talking to Star Sports after India seals its first win Gambhir opined that Kholi serves youngsters a valuble lesson on how to absorb pressure.”Imagine you are 2 or3 down for 2. You can’t go out there and hit a long ball. You will still need to be able to absorb the pressure and try to rotate those srikes. And I am sure these young cricketers coming through will learn from Virat Kholi . That is so important and that is why he is so consistent”, Gambhir on virat kholi
” Well, I think it’s just the way you read the game. I think it’s very important. First, when you have to chase those big totals, you got to be able to absorb the pressure. You should have this self-belief, you can chase it down from any situation and position and, more importantly, when he does that in one-day cricket, you have got to realise it’s not about hitting those big shots,” he said
It’s about running between the wickets. It’s about rotating the strike. It’s about never putting yourself under pressure. The lesser dot balls you play, the better position you’re in, because you know that with these new rules, with five fielders inside and two new balls with any time to accelerate,” he added.
“But when your team is under pressure, that low-risk cricket from there on, if you can continue to build that momentum, continue to build that foundation and that is exactly what he has done. He plays the ball. He was on 70-odd with only 5 boundaries. So, that just shows the ability to play spin and more importantly, the ability to rotate the strike against spin.” Gambhir mention
