The strain was apparent. Usually a boundary-fest in limited-overs cricket, batting turned profusely laborious in the maximum-stakes final of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. A disciplined effort in the field by Australia tied down the otherwise aggressive, free-flowing Indian batting and bowled them out for a below-par total of 240 on a sluggish surface at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, November 19. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Veteran left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc exploited the conditions smartly and and found some reverse swing in the latter half to scalp three wickets, including that of the well-set KL Rahul. Australia captain Pat Cummins too led from the front, cutting off the run supply and prising out the crucial wickets of India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli and the in-form Shreyas Iyer to derail the hosts' consolidation efforts.
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Rahul top-scored for the home team with an utterly patient knock of 66, which took 107 balls but held together one end in a huge chunk of the middle overs. Kohli joined forces with Rahul and scored a half-century of his own (54 off 63 balls), but got out just when he was feeling in control of proceedings and eyeing a big one, perhaps even a 51st ODI century.
India's score could have been even lower, had it not been for captain Rohit Sharma's typically blazing knock at the start. Rohit smashed a 31-ball 47 and gave the home team a flying start before the ball got softer and batting got harder.
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With the ball not coming on to the bat all through the innings, boundaries dried up entirely, giving Aussie bowlers avenues for breakthroughs whenever India tried to force the issue. Inside edges and leading edges became the order of the day as batter after batter mistimed their shots on a wicket that offered no pace. It remains to be seen whether there will be any dew in the second innings, which might dictate how the track behaves.
India would be hoping for no dew whatsoever, so that the pitch gets even slower and the spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja come into the equation.
Earlier, India lost the toss but still got what they wanted, as Australia chose to bowl first in the titanic final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Rohit Sharma's India are playing the same XI as their previous game against New Zealand, and the Pat Cummins-led Australians are also fielding the same team that they did in the semi-final against South Africa.
Rohit said he would have batted first if he had won the toss, which means Cummins' decision went in his favour. Cummins said dew could be a factor later on, which prompted his decision to bowl. The toss plays a key role in the final between two goliaths of world cricket.
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However, in the last 12 World Cups, team that has won the toss has gone to win four times and teams that have lost the toss, have won 8 times. Most notably, India's success in the 1983 and 2011 saw them lose the toss in the two World Cup finals which they went onto win.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
