Virat Kohli and KL Rahul hit defiant knocks to lift India from a perilous three down for two runs to a six-wicket win over Australia in their opening Cricket World Cup match on Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Chasing a tricky target of 200, India lost three batsmen, who all failed to score, inside two overs before Kohli (85) and Rahul (97 not out) put on 165.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Victory was secured with 52 balls to spare.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Spinner Ravindra Jadeja returned figures of 3-28 to help bowl out Australia for 199 in 49.3 overs in the 150th ODI meeting between the two cricket giants.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia's fast bowlers then came out all guns blazing to rattle the Indian top-order after left-arm quick Mitchell Starc sent back Ishan Kishan for a duck in the first over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Josh Hazlewood struck twice in the next to remove skipper Rohit Sharma lbw and then Shreyas Iyer caught at cover also for nought to silence the home crowd of 32,531.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Hazlewood nearly made it four down when he got Kohli to top-edge a delivery only for Mitchell Marsh to drop a skier. Kohli was on 12 at the time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kohli made the most of the reprieve as the star batsman reached his 67th ODI half-century and raised his bat to acknowledge the loud cheers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rahul soon reached his fifty in the 28th over as India went to 106-3 and in control.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kohli finally fell to Hazlewood caught out at mid-wicket and walked off to standing ovation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rahul hit the winning six with Hardik Pandya at the other end.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I had just taken a shower and was hoping to put my feet up for half an hour after the fielding innings, but I had to come in," said Rahul of his unexpectedly early arrival at the crease.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Virat said that I should play like Test cricket for a bit."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia captain Pat Cummins admitted his team had been "50 runs short".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Facing the spinners was tough and it was the kind of wicket you had to get yourself in."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Five-time champions Australia won the toss and elected to bat first but faltered.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Jadeja stood out in his 10 overs of left-arm spin. Fellow spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets each.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia lost an early wicket before veteran batsmen David Warner (41) and Steve Smith (46) hit back in a partnership of 69.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kohli made an early impact with a diving slip catch to send back Marsh, for a six-ball duck, off Bumrah.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The left-handed Warner reached 1,000 World Cup runs, passing Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar's previous best landmark. Warner needed 19 innings to Tendulkar's 20.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Kuldeep, a left-arm wrist spinner, broke the stand to send back Warner, caught and bowled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Jadeja bowled Smith to deny the former captain his fifty and then struck twice in his next over including wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey for a duck to rattle the opposition batting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Australia collapsed from 110-2 to 140-7 before Cummins hit the first six of the match, but fell for 15.<\/p>\r\n\r\n