Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia beat India in final for their sixth title
Travis Head scored a century to guide Australia to a six-wicket victory and was declared the man of the match.
Cricket
India’s 10-match winning run at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 ended in the final with a six-wicket loss against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
India started well with both bat and ball. However, a lack of boundaries and partnerships saw India get bowled out on 240 in 50 overs before composed knocks from Travis Head (137 off 120) and Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out in 110) guided Australia to their sixth ODI World Cup title in 43 overs.
This was India’s second ODI World Cup final against Australia and third in ICC events. India lost the 2003 World Cup final at Johannesburg by 125 runs and suffered a 209-run defeat in the ICC World Test Championships final earlier this year.
Put into bat first, India, champions in 1983 and 2011, started the match with attacking intent.
Rohit Sharma’s 47 off 31 gave India the perfect launchpad in the powerplay. His innings, laced with four fours and three maximums, helped India score 80 runs in the first 10 overs.
However, India’s scoring rate started to drop after Sharma fell to Glenn Maxwell’s spin in the 10th over. Travis Head took a brilliant diving catch to dismiss the Indian captain.
Shreyas Iyer was caught behind in the next over bowled by Australian captain Pat Cummins and India were reduced to 81/3 in the 11th over.
Virat Kohli (54 off 63) and KL Rahul (66 off 107) stitched together a 67-run partnership for the fourth wicket. However, the stand took its time and batted for 18 overs before Kohli lost his wicket with an inside edge on the bowling of Pat Cummins.
Australia produced a top-notch fielding effort and India were unable to find boundaries consistently. India went 16 overs without a boundary after Shreyas Iyer’s wicket. In fact, Pat Cummins (34/2) completed his quota of 10 overs without conceding a boundary. Leg spinner Adam Zampa (44/1) was economical. Though Josh Hazlewood (60/2) and Mitchell Starc (55/3) went for runs, they picked up wickets consistently to restrict India to 240.
David Warner and Travis Head hit Jasprit Bumrah for 15 runs in the first over of the Australian batting innings. Mohammed Shami dismissed David Warner in the next over but the required run-rate for Australia never went out of reach.
Jasprit Bumrah sent Mitchell Marsh (15 off 15) and Steven Smith (4 off 9) back cheaply, reducing Australia to 47/3 inside seven overs.
Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne navigated the next few overs cautiously. The pair grew in confidence but once the dew came into play at around the 20th over, the ball started coming onto the ball nicely and Travis Head unleashed a flurry of shots to help Australia inch closer to the target.
The pair took Australia within touching distance of the victory. India did get the breakthrough with the wicket of Travis Head but with Australia needing just one to win, Glenn Maxwell came in next and hit the winning runs as Australia cruised home to victory with seven overs to spare.
India came into the final with 10 wins on the trot. Kohli ended as the top-scorer at the 2023 ODI World Cup with 765 runs while Mohammed Shami, with 24 wickets, was the top wicket-taker in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
India vs Australia brief scores: India 240/10 (KL Rahul 66, Virat Kohli 54; Mitchell Starc 3/55) lost to Australia 241/4 (Travis Head 137, Marnus Labuschagne 58*; Jasprit Bumrah 2/43) by six wickets.