ODI World Cup 2023: India vs Australia, Final - Who Said What?

Australia defeated India by six wickets to lift their sixth ODI World Cup title in history. The Men in Yellow dominated the home team for the majority part of the game and it was too easy for them in the end. Travis Head hit an incredible century, followed by Marnus Labuschagne’s half-century as the Indian bowlers looked to have lost faith in the middle. 

Batting first, Rohit Sharma gave the perfect start to India but India lost wickets at regular intervals. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were slowly building an important partnership but the prior got played on, which broke the team morale. KL Rahul then had the pressure to see it through while the Bangalore-born cricketer couldn’t. Pressure slowly got the better of the Indian team as Australian bowlers were phenomenal in the middle.

When it came to the chase, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami picked up three quick wickets but the duo of Head and Labuschagne took the game away from India’s hand. After the match, Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Siraj were spotted crying in the middle while billions of Indians felt their pain. 

Impeccable bowling, phenomenal fielding

Australia turned up big time in the finals of the ODI World Cup 2023. Travis Head and David Warner were ruthless in the field while the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were incredible with the ball. They kept India under pressure for the majority of the innings and eventually managed to restrict the Men in Blue to just 240 runs in the final.

Poor execution from India

Shubman Gill trying to go for the glory shot and getting out was absolutely unnecessary. Rohit was striking well and hence, he should have stayed calm and built a good partnership. Pressure eventually got to them after India lost the wicket of Shreyas Iyer. They took a lot of time to settle down, especially KL Rahul, which later came as a boomerang as the stumper-batter couldn’t capitalize later on. There was a time when India played 97 balls without hitting a boundary. Sums up the story. Also, Ravindra Jadeja’s batting too should be put under the scanner as he is not being able to prove himself with the bat.

Keep him and chase glory

That was probably Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne’s strategy in the middle. Despite losing three quick wickets, Head never seemed to have panicked as Australia chased it down with absolute ease. Labuschagne supported him well and with that, Australia won another final. 

Losing skipper Rohit Sharma said:

The result has not gone our way. We were not good enough today. We tried everything but it wasn't supposed to be. 20-30 runs more would have been good, KL and Kohli were stitching a good partnership and we were looking at 270-280 but we kept losing wickets. When you have 240 on the board, you want to take wickets but credit to Head and Labuschagne for putting us out of the game, but I feel wicket got slightly better to bat under lights. Don't want to give that as an excuse. We didn't put enough runs on the board. Credit to those two guys in the middle for putting up an outstanding partnership.

Winning skipper Pat Cummins said:

I think we saved our best for last. We have been batting first pretty much for whole tournament and we thought it is a good night to chase down the target. Didn't really spin as much as we thought either. The boys were fantastic, we got an aging side and still everyone is throwing themselves on the field. We thought 300 might have been tough but achievable on that wicket, really chuffed with 240. Magnificent. Marnus with a cool head and Travis does what he does on the biggest stage, showed a lot of character. The selectors have backed him in and it is a big risk that we took and it paid off. I was pretty happy throughout the bowling innings. You look around and it is a special moment no matter whatever happened tonight. You gotta go and win the World Cup, you can't wait for it to happen. This year will be remembered for a long, long time and we had a lot of success over the winter and this one peaks it all. At the top of the mountain.

POTM Travis Head said:

Never expected this, not in a million years, truly an exceptional day. Lot better than sitting on the couch at home. Really glad to contribute, the first twenty balls I played gave me a lot of confidence and yea I was able to carry through. The way Mitch Marsh came out and took the game on, he set the tone. That was the energy we wanted and we knew the wicket may get tough. It was a great decision to bowl first after winning the toss. I felt the wicket got better as the day went on. It took a little bit of spin, it paid dividends. Nice to be a part of it, nice to play a role in all of that. He’s (Rohit Sharma) probably the unluckiest man in the world. Again, it's (fielding) something that I worked hard on. I couldn't imagine getting a hundred, couldn't probably imagine holding onto that one. Was great to hold on to that catch. Important to look after your team-mates, to be able to do that on the big stage in front of a full house is a nice thing. (On joining the list of centurions in WC finals - Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Head) Definitely third on that list, it's a nice one to join, nice to be here and nice to contribute. I'll just tell the boys that I'm looking forward to the reunion.