Australia won the World Cup for the sixth time in its illustrious one-day cricket history when it beat India by six wickets in Ahmedabad.
Travis Head remained cool in the run chase and scored an excellent hundred. One can certainly speak of his innings in the same breath as that of Ricky Ponting (140* against India in 2003) and Adam Gilchrist (149 against Sri Lanka in 2007).
The 29-year-old opener was now confident against the Indian fast bowlers, while his aggressive approach also put pressure on Ravindra Jadeja and the other spinners.
Together with Marnus Labuschagne (58*), he enjoyed a partnership of 192 runs for the fourth wicket to completely remove the fuzz from the home team’s sails.
When he was finally caught for 137 runs on the boundary, the game was already in the bag and Glenn Maxwell only had to scramble through for a few quick runs to seal the showdown for his team.
Earlier, the Aussies – just like in the semi-final against South Africa – excelled in the field.
Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins bowled superbly, while the fielders seemed to be charged with Duracell batteries; that’s how energetic their performance was.
Australia lost its first two matches of the tournament – including against the Proteas – but a champion team knows exactly how to win the important matches.
Just ask the Springboks on the rugby field; or for Australia on the cricket field.
- Summary of the scorecard:
India 240/10 in 50 overs: KL Rahul 66, Virat Kohli 54 and Mitchell Starc 3/55.
Australia 241/4 in 43 overs: Travis Head 137, Marnus Labuschagne 58* and Jasprit Bumrah 2/43.
- Teams:
In the: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (captain), Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood.
- Australia’s World Cup heroics: The Aussies walked away with the silverware in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023.
The winning moment???? ????????#CWC23 #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/duTWfUCjFM
— ICC (@ICC) November 19, 2023
