Australia are six time ODI world champions. No team has won more than two and here six out of 13 World Cup trophies sit in Australia’s cupboard. Mind-boggling as that record may be, even more incredible is their victory in the Cricket World Cup 2023, against hosts India. In India.
World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table
Everything coming into final was against Australia. They weren’t the form team. That was India with 10 wins from 10 matches. Their players didn’t rule the individual stats charts. It was India’s Virat Kohli who was at the top of run-scorers list and his compatriot Mohammed Shami led the race for the wicket-takers. They were away from home and at the world’s largest 1,32,000-capacity cricket stadium, amid an ocean of blue, that would bring even the best to their knees.
Do you know how they responded to that?
By winning the toss and opting to field.
The audacity to do that, in front of over one lakh people who sang Vande Matram in such sync that a battle would have been half won by then, is what makes Australia what they are.
The audacity and self belief never left Australia even if their golden generation left the team. It is what helped them recover from two straight defeats at the start of 2023 World Cup – against India and South Africa – to then script a nine-game winning streak that took them to the title.
In the all-important final, Cummins didn’t take the easy way out to bat first and escape the scoreboard pressure. They are the true professionals and Australians wanted to show that.
Stats: Australia’s record sixth title, Travis Head joins elite list and more
In the ’90s when Australia made mockery of India, which was far too often, we were always told a cultural change was needed to challenge the Aussies. We needed to be professional like them.
India have made massive progress but it is apparent there’s still some catching up to do. And it’s this element, to be able to successfully disassociate the emotions and feelings from the the job on hand, is what proved to be the difference in the final.
Forever etched in history 😍#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/pxYyRjLsvm
— ICC (@ICC) November 19, 2023
Once on the field, the Australians fielded with such energy that the boisterous crowd sitting in stands was no match. Travis Head epitomised that determination and energy with an excellent diving catch, running back at cover-point, to dismiss India captain Rohit Sharma and his 47 runs off 31 balls was the only reason India could even reach 240 after every other batter either surrendered or succumbed.
Photos: Australia bag record sixth title with win over India
Pacers Mitchell Starc and Cummins had faced a lot of flak for their lack of incisiveness with the ball and here they were wreaking havoc with reverse swing and discipline.
Cummins removed Kohli after the star batter dug deep, maybe a little too much, for a fifty and Starc swung the ball in the death overs to get KL Rahul and India’s hopes caught behind.
Eventually Starc had three wickets and Cummins two as India were bowled out for 240.
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After suffocating Indian batters with their athletic fielding, lethal bowling and high tempo cricket, Australia doubled the pressure in the second innings.
Mid-innings entertainment, laser lighting or Indian Air Force’s show, nothing was going to intimidate the Australians.
15 came from the first Jasprit Bumrah over and the tone was set. Head, who terrorised India earlier this year in the World Test Championship final, was at it again as he smashed a match-winning 137. A clutch hundred in a chase that defied everything India threw at him. That showed maybe more than technique and skill, it is temperament that you need.
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India did have some success, dismissing David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith cheaply, but the way Head played and how Marnus Labuschagne assisted him with 58 not out and dew in their favour, there was only so much Indian bowlers could have done.
Stands started to empty and the atmosphere was almost funeral-like. On the eve of the final, Cummins had said that their aim was to silence the Indian fans. The fact that this team would would achieve that in such convincing fashion is the story of this World Cup and world cricket.
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