Absolutely ruthless! That's what this Indian machine has become, and Rohit Sharma has a win in his 100th international game as skipper.

India batted first for the first time in CWC23 and rode on the influential knock of 87 runs of Hitman to post 229/9 in 50 overs. David Willey was the reeling threat with his spell of 3/45 in his 10 overs.

Here are the consolidated highlights of the game.

A hillbilly start

India’s first run at batting first in CWC23 began with a score of 35/2 in the powerplay. Shubman Gill (9) and Virat Kohli (0) were stopped in their tracks by Chris Woakes (Gill, 3.6 overs) and David Willey (Kohli, 6.5 overs).

Ro, Rahul, and SKY fight back

Cometh the R, Cometh the man. Rohit Sharma, playing his 100th international game as India's captain, lit the occasion with a spirited 87 off 101 balls. This cameo - packaged with 10 boundaries and three sixes - saw the Hitman break past the 18,000-run mark in international cricket and the 1000 ODI runs barrier in the 2023 calendar year. Unfortunately, his innings ended when his lofted attempt for a boundary four was cut short by Liam Livingstone’s leaping catch at deep mid-wicket.

After KL Rahul (39 off 57 balls) injected confidence into batting, Aapla Dada Surya made his presence with the bat known with four fours and one six in his knock of 49 runs in 47 deliveries that set the tone for India to eventually 229/9 in 50 overs.

Boom, Shami displace England's batting

When England seemed confident when starting their chase, the visitors were left wounded by two cyclones named Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Boom Boom lifted the shutters of the Indian fightback in the fifth over, with figures as follows:

4.1 overs: No run

4.2 overs: No run

4.3 overs: FOUR

4.4 overs: No run

4.5 overs: WICKET - Dawid Malan (16)

4.6 overs: WICKET - Joe Root (0)

Shami, well, introduced himself in style. Bowling the eighth over, he bowled five dots to Ben Stokes (0) before rampaging past the English talisman’s defences to crash into the stumps on the final delivery. He returned to bowl the 10th over and claimed the prized scalp of Jonny Bairstow (14). Score at the end of 10 overs? England - 40/4.

Kuldeep swings in with finesse

If Kuldeep Yadav’s first over (1-0-2-0) of the evening was good, the second one was even better.

Taking over the ball for the 16th over, the spin wizard bowled a ripper that astonished Jos Buttler (10) and crashed into the stumps. Tossed on outside off, takes a sharp 7.2-degree turn and clips the bails. STUNNING.

KL Rahul: May I assist you?

KL Rahul is the leading contender for the Fielder of the Day award. How? First, he took the catch of Moeen Ali (15) off Mohammed Shami (23.1 overs). Then, he quickly stumped out Chris Woakes (10) after the former misread Ravindra Jadeja’s delivery (28.1 overs) and came out of his crease.

Fin

Kuldeep’s second scalp, Boom Boom’s third and Shami’s fourth helped India close England’s run-chase of 230 inside 34.5 overs and seal a 100-run victory for the hosts. This would also mean the Men in Blue ended two jinxes - the first win over ENG in a World Cup match in 20 years and the first WC win over England at home (1987 - lost, 2011 - tie, 2023 - win).

Brief scores: India 229/9 (Rohit Sharma 87, Suryakumar Yadav 49; David Willey 3/45) BEAT England 129 (Liam Livingstone 27, David Willey 16; Mohammed Shami 4/22) by 100 runs.