India’s character and mettle were seriously tested at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, but they came through a searching examination with flying colours to get their World Cup campaign off to a roaring start.

Having lorded the middle overs against five-time former champions Australia and bowled them out for 199, India were rocked at the start of their chase when they lost skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, all for ducks, inside the first 12 deliveries. All of a sudden, at three wickets down for two runs, their target of 200 looked a million miles away.