IND vs AUS: Chase Master Virat Kohli helps India bury ghosts of past with kingly knock at Chepauk

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IND vs AUS: Virat Kohli was in his element after Australia threatened to spoil India's party in their World Cup 2023 opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The modern day great showed exactly why he is called the 'CHASE MASTER'.

After bundling out Australia for 199, India were left reeling at two for three in two overs. Openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma failed to open their accounts. Shreyas Iyer followed pursuit and was out for a 3-ball duck.

Virat Kohli, who walked in the middle to face just the fifth ball of the Indian batting innings, watched Rohit Sharma and Shreyas depart from the other end of the crease. He himself got a lifeline when he was dropped on 12 by MItchell Marsh.

The batting maestro made the Australians pay and went on to put on a show under an extremely tense atmosphere at the Chepauk. He looked sharp from ball one and just grew in confidence with every passing minute.

The typical Virat Kohli innings saw him run hard for singles and doubles. He played shots along the ground, taking minimal risk to lead India's recovery. KL Rahul provided the perfect support to Kohli and the duo forged a century partnership (165 runs) - only the third by an Indian pair against Australia in World Cup.

IND vs AUS: King Kohli breaks flurry of records, hands India 6-wicket win

The well-composed innings from Kohli made him the fastest batter to complete 11000 ODI runs while batting at number three. He also took over Sachin Tendulkar in the list of India batters with most runs in white-ball ICC tournaments. Tendulkar held the record with 2,719 runs. Virat Kohli now has the most fifty plus scores as a non-opener in ODI cricket history. He has 113 fifty-plus scores while not opening on in ODIs.

The right-hander was in news for having an extended training session at the Chepauk ahead of India's World Cup 2023 opener and it would not be wrong to say that he brought all the hard work to fruition after executing a successful rescue operation at a tricky Chennai surface. India gunned down the 200 run target with six wickets and 52 balls remaining.

Kohli failed to score his 48th ODI hundred but his 116-ball 85 set the tone for himself and India for the rest of the tournament. India have found themselves wanting on the big stage a number of times after top-order failure but 'King Kohli' has buried all those ghosts of the past in his very first outing of the World Cup 2023.

Further, Kohli has once again reminded everyone that he may not be the captain, there may be numerous match-winners in the team, but there is none in the team bigger than him!