ODI World Cup 2023: Cummins and Co had successfully made the Indian crowd go silent at the world’s largest stadium in Ahmedabad. Australia was on toes in the big final and they never allowed India to sneak in with a chance.
Australia gave an all-around performance in Sunday's all important encounter. They saved 30 to 40 runs through their fielding itself and they applied more pressure on the Indian batters.
The Aussies won their sixth title in this year’s ODI World Cup 2023. Earlier this year, Australia had also defeated Rohit Sharma and his men in the finals of the World Test Championship as well.
India was not up to the mark yesterday’s game and there were under some sort of desperation with the bat and ball.
Team India looked in prime form in this year’s ODI World Cup 2023. But they didn’t deliver when it mattered the most. In the finals, Gill and Skipper Sharma didn’t provide an ideal start after Australia sent India to bat first.
Gill played a needless short in those circumstances and was out for just four runs. Rohit and Virat steadied the ship and they looked good as well. But Rohit Sharma got carried away when he smashed Maxwell for a six and four in back-to-back deliveries.
Sharma also played a needless short and he was out on 47 runs. Hitman’s wicket was a huge setback in this big final for India because they couldn’t recover after that.
After the dismal of Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer was also out for just four runs. India was in a spot of bother when KL and Kohli snitched a partnership just like they did in the ODI World Cup 2023 match in Chennai against this same opposition side of Australia. That time, India had lost three wickets with just two runs on the board.
Virat Kohli got to his sixth half-century in this ODI World Cup 2023, which was the most by any batter in this competition and KL Rahul also played well in this encounter.
But the lower-order players like Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav couldn’t take India to a formidable score and the hosts, India managed just 240 runs in the end.
India had other options as well in the lower order. SKY wasn’t in the first playing eleven of the men in blue side. He was included because of an injury to Hardik Pandya. However, the star T20I batter, SKY didn’t do anything worth it to cement his place in this XI of the ODI World Cup 2023.
Apart from playing 72 runs in the second ODI match of the three match series against this same team of Australia and he also scored vital 49 runs against England in this tournament, SKY’s inclusion cannot be justified at all. India had the options of Shardul Thakur or Ravichandran Ashwin in their squad.
Lord Thakur and Ash should have been India’s first choices when Hardik Pandya was ruled out of this ODI World Cup 2023. These two players, Ash and Shardul could have easily provided the batting depth and an extra bowling options for India in crunch situations like the finals. Ash was the part of 2011 World Cup-winning team. So Ashwin has more experience than SKY.
But the captain, coach and the team management didn’t prefer to use all that experience from Ravichandran Ashwin, who is also a quality test player. Ash also had scored centuries in the red ball format as well. Despite all these qualities and talent the Indian management opted for a youth player than an experienced campaigner.
India’s bowling was the best in the first 11 games of the ODI World Cup 2023. The Indian pacers made some early inroads and also got wickets in the middle overs. But in the final, the bowlers of the men in blue side were seen trying too hard. They weren’t at their best with the white cherry in hand.
Shami is India’s highest wicket taker in the ODI World Cup 2023 while Jasprit Boom Boom Bumrah was the second highest wicket taker for India in this fifty overs tournament. Siraj wasn’t at best and India still kept playing. Shardul Thakur could have easily replaced him after he went for plenty of runs.
Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja were flying high before the finals of the ODI World Cup 2023. But in the main match of this event, both these star bowlers couldn’t pick up a single wicket and they also couldn’t build pressure on the Aussie batters.
The dew was also the main reason why the Indian pacers and spin bowlers couldn’t create an impact on the whole team of Australia. Only Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj picked up the four Australian wickets. India clearly missed a sixth bowling option in this all important encounter. That’s why Ash or Lord Thakur should have played this final instead of SKY.
