Team India needed five runs to win off the final 54 balls and batter KL Rahul needed nine runs to complete a well-deserved century in their opening match of the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 against five-time world champions Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. The equation was simple, a four followed by a six would have been enough for Rahul to reach a century.
What Rahul didn’t count on was the timing on his extra-cover drive off Australia skipper Pat Cummins which just sailed over the boundary. The Team India wicketkeeper-batter was left stranded on 97 not out as India won by six wickets with over 8 overs to spare leaving both Rahul and Cummins shell-shocked at the end of the match.
Rahul’s 97 not was the second-highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in an ODI World Cup match, surpassing MS Dhoni’s match-winning 91 not out in the World Cup 2011 final against Sri Lanka. Current India head coach Rahul Dravid holds the record for highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in a World Cup match – 145 against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup.
“Quite honestly not a lot of conversation, I thought I’d get a good shower and get a break. I was just trying to get my breath back. Virat (Kohli) said there’s a bit in the wicket, so play like Test cricket for a while. There was a bit of help for the pacers with the new ball, and then the spinners also,” Player of the Match KL Rahul said after the game in Chennai on Sunday.
“In the last 15-20 overs, dew played a part and that helped quite a bit. The ball also skidded on better. However, it was a bit two-paced, it wasn’t the easiest of wickets to bat on and it wasn’t flat as well. It was a good cricket wicket, bit for the batters and the bowlers. That’s what you get in the south of India, especially Chennai,” he added.
Rahul revealed what it felt to fall few runs short of a well-deserved century, saying, “I hit it too well, I just calculated how to get to a 100 in the end. The only way was a four and a six, but no qualms on not getting to that hundred.”