19 November,2023 07:30 AM IST | Ahmedabad | R Kaushik
Australia celebrate with the World Cup at Ahmedabad yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
In the end, there was no popular victory, no transportation to the throes of ecstasy for Rohit Sharma and his men, no unalloyed joy for the thousands that had crammed the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
On the day that mattered the most in the competition, India left their âA' game behind in the changing room and were ruthlessly punished by a masterful Australia, who stormed to a six-wicket victory and their sixth World Cup crown on the back of a stunning century by Travis Head (137), who missed the first five games with a fracture to his left hand.
India admittedly got the worse of the batting conditions after being put in by Pat Cummins, tied up in knots by a crack Australian attack that exploited the slowness of the surface with dexterity. Despite another flying start by the skipper which muscled them to 80 for two at the end of the first Powerplay, India were bowled out for 240.
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Travis Head during his 137 yesterday. Pic/Bipin Patel
In a change from norm, Rohit used Mohammed Shami as Jasprit Bumrah's new-ball partner ahead of Mohammed Siraj and the move worked immediately after an erratic first over from Bumrah when David Warner perished to Shami's first legal delivery of the evening. Shami was far from his incisive best, but Bumrah struck twice in his first spell to leave Australia gasping at 47 for three.
Head silenced the energised crowd by first dialling down a notch to stem the rot in Marnus Labuschagne's company, then slipping into overdrive with a spectacular display of shot-making. Under lights, the surface seemed to play better with the ball coming on nicely and the left-hander, who slammed a hundred in the World Test Championship final against India in June, made merry by treating India's attack with scant disdain.
With each meaty blow off his unforgiving willow, Indian shoulders dropped in the middle and crowd began to sense the inevitable as it trickled out of the venue. The fourth-wicket stand was worth 192, Labuschagne weighing in with a crucial half-century.
In the afternoon, despite Rohit's fire-and-brimstone approach, Australia pulled things back with their captain in the forefront. Cummins, who had an excellent day with his field placements and bowling changes, was little short of outstanding with the ball too, accounting for a well-set Virat Kohli after having earlier evicted Shreyas Iyer. The latter's dismissal, four balls after Rohit had fallen to a memorable catch by Head running back from cover and diving full length forward, sucked the innings of all the momentum with Kohli and KL Rahul forced to rebuild.
The duo did that sensibly while adding 67 for the fourth wicket, but through their assortment of spinners and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, Australia kept plugging away. Just four fours were struck in the last 40 overs and India lost their last five wickets for 37; then, the Head show came to town and India simply had no answers.
Brief scores
India 240 all out in 50 overs (KL Rahul 66, V Kohli 54, R Sharma 47; M Starc 3-55, P Cummins 2-34, J Hazlewood 2-60) lost to Australia 241-4 in 43 overs (T Head 137, M Labuschagne 58'; J Bumrah 2-43) by 6 wickets
