Australian skipper Pat Cummins was glad his team brought their best in the all-important final against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday after they registered a six-wicket win to lift their sixth World Cup title.
Cummins went against the narrative of ‘always bat first in the big final and put runs on the board’ as he decided to field first on a slow pitch. India raced to 80-2 in the Powerplay overs as Rohit Sharma again gave his team a blistering start.
But as India lost Shreyas Iyer right after the Powerplay ended, they could not gain any pace in the middle overs. The hosts could only hit two fours in the middle overs (11-40) as Virat Kohli scored 54 off 63 balls and KL Rahul scored 66 off 107 balls.
India could only score 117 runs in the middle overs as Australian bowlers were right on the money. On the other hand, Australia lost three early wickets as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who was given the new ball for the first time in the World Cup, struck early.
However, Travis Head took the game head-on as he scored his fifth ODI hundred, scoring a match-winning knock of 137 runs off just 120 balls. Head added 192 runs with Marnus Labuschagne, who scored an unbeaten knock of 58 runs to take Australia home.
Head scored 15 fours and four sixes in his blistering innings as he batted at the top of his game. The left-hander was severe on anything which was short and played one of the best knocks of his ODI career when it mattered the most.
Pat Cummins said at the post-match presentation, “I think we saved our best for last. Couple of big match players stood up, and we’re pretty stuffed. We’ve been batting first pretty much for the whole tournament, today we thought, it’s a good night to chase down, we thought it might actually get a little bit easier. Everyone was pretty keen to get out there. It was a bit slower than I thought, didn’t particularly spin probably as much as we thought either. Everyone adjusted pretty well and bowled some tight lines. On a slow wicket like that with variable bounce, we thought a couple of catchers on leg-side, you got to score in ODI cricket, so put a few catchers there and make them make a couple of decisions.
Australia was brilliant in the field as they set the tone from the very first over. Furthermore, Head took a brilliant catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma, who was looking dangerous.
Cummins added on the fielding effort, “Desperate for sure, it all started last week in South Africa. The boys were fantastic. We’ve got an ageing side but everyone still throws themselves around in the game. Really chuffed with 240, probably anything under 300 really. I thought 300 might have been tough but achievable on that wicket. We were really happy with 240.”
Australia once again proved their mettle on the big stage and clinched their sixth World Cup title.
