Virat Kohli and KL Rahul lead India's fightback in Cricket World Cup win over Australia

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul engineered one of the great fightbacks in ODI cricket as India defeated Australia to open their World Cup campaign in style in Chennai on Sunday.

Chasing a tricky target of 200, India were in all sorts of trouble at three down for just two runs. It would have been worse had Mitchell Marsh not dropped a simple chance off Kohli.

But from there, it was the Kohli-Rahul show.

Former India captain Kohli took his time to settle down before opening up, scoring a majestic 85 as the hosts ultimately eased to a six-wicket win.

He added 165 in the company of Rahul, who made a near flawless 97 not out to underline his importance in India’s batting order.

The Aussies had made the perfect start with the new ball. Mitchell Starc, bowling the first over, induced a loose drive from new opener Ishan Kishan and the left-handed batsman barely reached the delivery, only edging it to first slip.

In the next over, Josh Hazlewood got one to move back in sharply to hit captain Rohit Sharma in front of the stumps. Even a review could not save him as both India openers were out for a duck to leave the home team shell-shocked at 2-2.

Hazlewood then completed the top-order decimation by getting Shreyas Iyer caught driving at cover. It was the first time that India’s first three batsmen had been dismissed for ducks in the same ODI.

The tournament hosts would have been in even deeper trouble had Marsh held on to a regulation miscue from Kohli to square leg. Had Marsh held on, India would have been 20-4 and the match could well have ended there.

But Kohli survived, and then flourished, as both he and Rahul played out the new ball threat of Starc, Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

Once the spinners and Cameron Green came on, the