After a winning spree, leaving no doubt about its victory in every other match so far in the Cricket World Cup of 2023, India has lost the finals to Australia on Sunday, November 19. Australia won the match by six wickets after beating India’s 240 for all in 43 overs. This is their sixth World Cup win in 36 years.
The finals took place at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the same venue as the debut match held on October 5. On Sunday when the match came to a close, the whole stadium, dotted with fans and followers wearing blue, had gone quiet, except for the Australian players and its few scattered supporters. Rohit Sharma and his men shook hands with the Australian team and walked back to the dressing room, as pacer Mohammed Siraj could not help shedding a few tears.
Pat Cummins’s team played careful cricket, after losing three early wickets including that of David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith. They appeared determined not to be in a hurry anymore, going on a defensive mode, letting opening batsman Travis Head go steadily ahead to knock a century and last till almost the very end of the match. Travis’s 137 runs in 120 balls got him the Player of the Match award. Marnus Labuschagne stood patiently, getting his 58 in almost double the number of deliveries. Fittingly, Glenn Maxwell, the double-century scorer of this World Cup, took the final two winning runs in the match.
Earlier in the day, Australia, winning the toss, had chosen to field in what appeared to be a bowling pitch at the Narendra Modi stadium. Unlike their sureshot performances in the World Cup so far, the men in blue seemed to struggle to stay on the field, wickets falling too fast. Three of the star performers of the season had scored – Captain Rohit Sharma with the big hits, Virat Kohli with another half century and KL Rahul with a patient innings of 66 in 107 balls. However, that was not enough, especially with some excellent fielding on the ground by Australia, limiting India to 240 all out.
In the after-match awards, Virat Kohli won the Player of the Tournament award for his consistent performance through the World Cup, which also had him win the record of a player scoring the most number of centuries in the One Day International format.