At 2-3, India found themselves starring at the barrel of the gun in their opening match of the ongoing World Cup 2023 against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday. That’s when, KL Rahul joined forces with veteran Virat Kohli at the crease.

India had to chase 200 runs and thus there was no major pressure of the required run rate and Kohli and Rahul adopted a conventional way of playing out the tough overs.

Kohli and Rahul played with aplomb and showed all the resistance at the crease. The duo went on to add 165 runs for the fourth wicket, the highest for India against Australia in a World Cup match. Kohli went on to score a fine knock of 85 runs whereas Rahul scored an unbeaten 97 to take his team over the line.

“It helped that we played the more conventional way in those tough situations. It obviously helped us to eradicate the errors and help us to rotate the strike as well. We had a good start and the team feels good after a win like that and as KL said, hopefully we can go a long way in this tournament,” Kohli said in the BCCI interview.

On the other hand, Rahul admitted he was tired after the match as it was scorching hot in Chennai. The flamboyant batter revealed he and Kohli decided to not push themselves to the limits between the wickets.

“Tired I won’t lie. I think the only chat after 50-70 runs of the partnership was that let’s not take the twos and conserve the energy,” Rahul said during his chat with Kohli.

Kohli and Rahul were able to make the most of their experience and showed their class against Australian bowlers. It was a much-needed alliance between the two after three early wickets.

India will be up against Afghanistan in their second game of the ODI showpiece, which will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.