Chennai (Tamil Nadu): India skipper Rohit Sharma, who opened the innings against Australia in the lung opener here on Sunday, joined an unwanted list along with his opening partner Ishan Kishan. Kishan was chosen for the game as the regular opener Shubman Gill was ruled out due to fever.
However, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan meekly surrendered before the Australian quicks as both were out for a duck. Rohit and Ishan Kishan thus became the only second Indian opening pair to be out on zero in a World Cup match. Earlier in the 1983 World Cup, Kris Srikkanth and Sunil Gavaskar, both were dismissed on zero, against Zimbabwe. The game against Zimbabwe is remembered for skipper Kapil Dev's heroics with the bat as he pulled the team out of trouble by scoring an unbeaten hundred. Meanwhile, this was the first instance when the top three batters for India had been dismissed for a zero.
Also read: Cricket World Cup 2023: Indian spinners stun Australia; bundles out on 199
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, meanwhile, became the quickest bowler to take 50 wickets in a World Cup as he achieved the feat in 19 innings. He surpassed former Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga. Starc, a left-arm pacer also became the fifth bowler after former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath (71), former Sri Lankan spinner M Murali (68), Lasith Malinga (56), former Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram (55) to take 50 wickets in World Cup.
On Sunday, Indian spinners ran through the Australian batting lineup as they bundled the team for 199. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin did the bulk of the damage at the Chepauk stadium. India had a shocking start to the chase with three ducks but Virat Kohli and KL Rahul managed to pull India out of trouble and win the game
