An official attendance of 33,190 was registered at the MA Chidambaram (Chepauk) Stadium in Chennai for India’s opening game of the 2023 World Cup against Australia. The attendance number was shown on television towards the end of India’s chase.
The crowd number was slightly higher than the the 32,921 fans who attended the CSK SRH IPL game at the same venue back in April 2023 earlier this year.
Australia won the toss here and opted to bat first, but could only score 199 as they struggled to cope with the slow nature of the pitch and India’s troika of spinners- Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and local man Ravi Ashwin. Steve Smith top scored for the visitors with 46.
In response, Mitchell Starc got the visitors off to a dream start by snaring left hander Ishan Kishan, caught at first slip by Cameron Green for a golden duck while attempting an expensive drive.
Josh Hazlewood then pegged the hosts back with wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer as Men in Blue slumped to 2/3.
Star batsman Virat Kohli got a reprieve on 12, when Mitchell Marsh dropped a relatively simple catch at square leg following a lack of miscommunication with wicket keeper Alex Carey behind the stumps.
Kohli capitalized on the opportunity as he went on to add 165 runs for the fourth wicket alongside KL Rahul. The former was eventually dismissed to a fine sharp catch by Marnus Labuschagne at midwicket while attempting a pull for 85.
Rahul (97)* along with Hardik Pandya (11)* shared an unbeaten 34 run stand for the fifth wicket, as The Men in Blue overhauled the target with 52 balls to spare.
India will next square off against Afghanistan in Delhi on Wednesday, October 11.
India 201 for 4 (Rahul 97*, Kohli 85, Hazlewood 3-38) beat Australia 199 all out (Smith 46, Jadeja 3-28) by six wickets