Australia HEAD home with 6th WC title

Ahmedabad: A billion Indian hearts sank as Australia showed great professionalism in crushing the Men In Blue aspirations of winning the ICC World Cup at home. The Narendra Modi Stadium in the capital of Gujarat was packed to the rafters. Bleed Blue was the theme as fans were inside, wearing jerseys and all other stuff that was to help the Indians play cricket with patriotism and fervour. In the end, a total of 240 which India posted was insufficient. Australia, riding on the brilliant century of Travis Head coasted home with ease, winning by six wickets.

As fans trooped out of the stadium rubbing their eyes in disbelief, a great dream had been shattered. After winning 10 matches in a row, the end was painful. For the heartless hacks and insensitive people using social media, it may be so easy to slam Rohit Sharma and the team. However, that would be most churlish to slam the Indians. They played their hearts out for 10 matches in a row.

Once the final was about to begin, Aussie captain Pat Cummins showed great cunning. He won the toss, put India in to bat. People thought it was a mindless decision. How wrong they were, for Cummins had read the pitch like a curator and relied on his bowlers to choke the Indians. To say that Cummins led from the front would be stating the obvious as he used the bowling resources available beautifully and himself took two wickets.

To think the pitch results in poor cricket or batters are unable to score runs is wrong. The best batters score on any surface, which was demonstrated by Rohit Sharma. His staccato-burst 47 was studded with four fours and three sixes, at a strike rate of 151.61. This has been the template right through the World Cup. Just that the other frontline batters came a cropper.

Shubman Gill was out to Mitch Starc, Shreyas Iyer gullible against the short-pitched stuff and Virat Kohli out to Cummins at 54. His dismissal was kind of unbelievable. He got bat to the ball only to then see his stumps shattered. One man who put heart and soul into the match was KL Rahul, who scored 66. His glove work behind the wickets was also neat to finish as the best keeper in terms of dismissals.

The failure of Surya Kumar Yadav was glaring. It showed that he has not adapted to the ODI format at all. The real lesson for India on this day was how three big batters failed to come good. For those talking of Rohit scoring a possible 100, that is rubbish. His gameplan was simple, he would score big in the minimum balls, total a team effort. That Gill and Shreyas flopped hurts fans.

Once the Aussies came out to bat, there were prayers on lips of all fans inside the cauldron-like stadium. On a day when a crazy Aussie fan had trespassed onto the pitch and almost hugged Kohli, the security breach was glaring. Worse, the spectator, was sporting a pro Palestine painting on his T-shirt which had tongues wagging. A security breach like this was unpardonable.

There is one thing about the Aussie batting which will always stay strong. They know how to deal with pressure and not succumb to histrionics. The entire stadium was against them, yet, after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Shami had caused a few dents, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne changed the whole script. They handled pace and spin with authority to ruin India’s great dreams.

People recalled the 2003 final when Australia beat India with Ricky Ponting as captain. Two decades hence, they again produced the magic. After two losses, the way Australia fought back to win their ninth match on the trot is a tribute to their energy and enthusiasm. Sample this, they won the Ashes and the ICC Test Championship against India this summer. To lift the World Cup for the sixth time was awesome.

How India cope with this loss remains to be seen. To have failed in three attempts in 2015, 2019 and 2023 will haunt all. Fans are weeping.