Colombo: The R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo added another first to its long list of credentials when the curtain went up on the inaugural Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals, as campuses from six nations lined up on the ground. Australia, Bangladesh, Great Britain, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will battle it out over the next five days for the title.

Making a very confident start was India’s D.A.V College who began their campaign with 5-wicket win over Australia’s University of New South Wales. Walking out onto the field at the R. Premadasa Stadium under an overcast Colombo sky, India won the toss and elected to field first.

India couldn’t ask for a better first over from their opening bowler, Vishwas Khatak, who dismissed Charles Wakim for a duck in what was a wicket maiden. Recovering from the early shock, Thomas Gallop and James McNeil cautiously added 35 runs for the 2nd wicket before McNeil ran himself out by trying to pinch a single off a ball. India’s bowling kept up the pressure, restricting the Australians to just singles, making them work for every run - the boundaries did not come easy for the Aussie batsmen.

Thomas Rogers took the Australian total past 50 in the 7th over but he fell, caught LBW to a delivery by Rattan Singh. That ended Australia’s hopes of a big total and they finally ended up scoring 124/8.

India began their run chase with confidence and aggression. J. Singh played dominantly, scoring boundaries at ease and rotating the strike. India added 50 for the 2nd partnership before J. Singh departed for 33. This momentarily slowed down their scoring rate but they managed to reach the target with two overs to spare. Things are certainly heating up at the R. Premadasa Stadium at the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals 2013.