India registered a comprehensive 6-wicket win over Australia in their World Cup opener in Chennai on Sunday (October 8). While India first bowled out Australia for 199 runs with the help of their spinners who picked six wickets among themselves, India were reduced to 2/3 in their run chase. It could have been further trouble for India as Kohli skied a pull shot off the Hazlewood, who had already picked two wickets by then. However, Mitchell Marsh ended up dropping what should have been an easy catch. Had that catch been taken, India would have been 20/4, chasing 200.
Kohli, who was batting on 12 at that time, ended up scoring 85 which paved the way for India's win, making Australia pay for their fielding error which appeared to have been caused with wicketkeeper Alex Carey coming in the peripheral vision of Marsh and no one calling for the catch. A picture of that dropped catch has gone viral on social media.
Take a look at it here:
After the match, Australia captain Pat Cummins spoke about the missed opportunity. He admitted that Australia were about 50 runs short after they won the toss and elected to bat first.
"I have already forgotten about it (the dropped catch), it happens, 4/10 (20) would have been a dream start," Cummins said.
"At least 50-odd (short with the bat). It was tough, trying to defend anything under 200.. It was a really good bowling attack and their spinners made it tough work out there. I wasn't too upset (with just two spinners), we had 20 overs of spin but some more runs on the board would have made the difference," he told Ian Bishop at the post-match presentation.