On a Sunny afternoon at the Oval, Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first at the Oval 

After a watchful initial few overs, The openers applied themselves and established a solid partnership. Rohit Sharma survived when he was on two, As Nathan Coulter -Nile dropped a tough chance, to the right-hand side of mid-wicket. After a partnership of near equal distribution of Runs, Rohit Sharma became the first wicket to fall. NCN produced a delivery with slightly extra bounce, To which Rohit perished, After scoring 57(70) 3x4 1x6. The score was 127/1 (22.3)

Again, A similar partnership happened between Dhawan and Kohli, Dhawan registered a ton, Which became his third at the venue, His third in World cups, His sixth in ICC events. Dhawan got out to a tired shot, Off the 109th ball he faced; After getting 117 runs with 16 fours, He failed in an attempt to go big against start and got caught by substitute fielder Nathan Lyon at deep mid-wicket. 

Much to the surprise of everyone, Hardik Pandya got promoted to number four and he was immediately dropped by Wicket -Keeper Carey off the bowling of Coulter-Nile. Having escaped from a shameful situation of a golden duck, Hardik Pandya started blasting in whatever space he got. He propelled himself onto 48 off just 26 balls and then got out in the subsequent ball he faced, As he couldn't clear Finch at mid -off, Off a wide delivery by Pat Cummins. The amazingly entertaining knock of Pandya featured four fours and 3 sixes. 

Dhoni, Continued from where Pandya left off and played a vital cameo of 27(14) with 3 fours and a six before getting out caught and bowled by Stoinis eventually. Amidst these briskly paced knocks, Captain Kohli, Registered his 50th score of 50 or more in ODIs. Eventually, due to lack of strike, Kohli's knock ended when a slower ball by Stoinis did the better of the Indian captain and resulted in a catch to Cummins at deep cover. This particular inning of Virat Kohli (82 off 77) had very less number of boundaries (4x4 2x6). Yet, It was an anchor style knock and it has its own value, As his presence did make an impact all over.

KL Rahul came in at number 6. He smacked a four, A six and a single in the 3 balls he got to face. India's innings ended at 352-5 (50). This currently stands as the 4th highest total in world cup history. This was also the first instance of Australia conceding 350 or more in a world cup match.

While chasing 353 to win, Warner survived in the first ball off the second over. Bumrah's delivery created an inside edge and the ball hit the stumps. Yet, The bails didn't fall off at all. After a 61 run stands from 13 overs, Finch got out run out in the subsequent ball of the next over, a for 36(35) 3x4 1x6, By the combo of Jadhav and Hardik. A slight hesitation paved the way to a wicket for India.

After reaching his fifty in the 22nd over, Warner fell 2 overs later, When the score touched 133. Chahal picked up the wicket as Warner hit the 84th ball of his innings, Straight to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar at deep mid wicket! Warner's uncharacteristic 56 had just 5 fours.  Exactly 12 overs later, The score reached 202 and Usman Khawaja was castled by Bumrah When he attempted to play across the line. ! Thus the 69 run stand came to an end. Khawaja got 42(39) 6x4 1x6.

Maxwell came in next and attacked right from the beginning. Smith had already notched up to his second consecutive fifty at the other end. Eventually, Smith got out LBW to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, With a contribution of 69(70 ) featuring 5 fours and. a six, In the 40th over. Within the end of the over, Marcus Stoinis was sent back out bowled for a duck. 

In the very next over, When Maxwell's hit ballooned up in the air, Substitute Jadeja took a catch stunningly by sprinting in from midwicket and dive to provide Chahal a wicket.  A threating knock from Maxwell, Was put to an end with his contribution being 28 off 14 balls, which featured five fours.

Although Alex Carey was firing at one end, Coulter -Nile failed to get the flow and eventually fell to a catch taken by Kohli at deep mid wicket region off the bowling of Bumrah. Cummins couldn't help it either, As to be fell for 8 (7) to Bumrah again with Dhoni taking the catch.

The ninth wicket fell in the first ball of the last over as Bhuvaneshwar collected substitute Vijay Shankar's throw and sent back search for 3(3). Bhuvaneshwar picked up Zampa in the last ball of the innings to end with 3/50 in his ten overs. Ravindra Jadeja took a simple catch at mid-off.

India won the match by 36 runs and would face the Kiwis on Thursday at Nottingham 

Shikhar Dhawan got the player of the match award.

India's wins vs Aus in WC
1983, Chelmsford: 118 runs
1987, Delhi: 56 runs
2011, Ahmedabad: Five wickets
2019, Oval: 36 runs

This is the first time Australia have lost a run chase in WCs since losing to Pakistan at Leeds in 1999. The streak of 19 consecutive wins batting second since then comes to an end today

First loss in 11 ODIs for Australia

Most runs in a WC match:
688 runs Aus (376) v SL (312) Sydney 2015
682 runs Pak (348) v Eng (334) Nottingham 2019
676 runs Ind (338) v Eng (338) Bengaluru 2011
671 runs Aus (377) v SA (294) Basseterre 2007
668 runs Ind (352) v Aus (316) Oval 2019

-Kumaran Kumanan

Images courtesy : BCCI ICC Reuters