Produced by: Bhoomika Aggarwal Designed by: Manoj Kumar
It was a heartbreaking moment for Indians as Team India despite having a phenomenal run throughout the tournament could not lift the World Cup trophy for the third time as it lost to 6-time winner Australia. Aus defeated Ind by 6 wickets with 42 balls left.
In a post-match presentation, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said, “Australia stitched a big partnership after losing three wickets. With 240 on the board, we wanted early wickets but credit to Travis Head and Marnus. They put us completely out of the game and I thought the wicket got better to bat under lights. I mean we knew under lights, it would be better but don't want to give that as an excuse. We didn't bat well enough, but credit to those two guys in the middle for stitching that big partnership."
Here are a few key reasons behind India's loss vs Australia.
Australian skipper Pat Cummns kept making changes to team's balling order and strategy based on the performance of the Indian team.
Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer failed to perform as they both scored just 4 runs each, thus putting pressure on the middle batting order. While Rohit Sharma played his part, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul's partnership renewed hopes for Team India. Though, after them there was no such display of strong partnership between the players.
After the dismissal of KL Rahul, the middle order, comprising of Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav, failed to perform as they both departed after scoring just 9 and 18 runs, respectively. It further exerted pressure on the tail-enders who are primarily bowlers and spinners including Mohammad Shami (6 runs), Jasprit Bumrah (1 run), Kuldeep Yadav (10 runs) and Mohammed Siraj (9 runs).
The selection of Narendra Modi stadium for World Cup finale is under scrutiny as it is considered a slow-wicket pitch. Australia's decision to ball first worked in its favour due to the pitch's evolving nature which became batting-friendly as the game progressed.
While Rohit Sharma had been an excellent captain throughout the tournament, he missed the opportunity to position slips for spinners during India vs Australia World Cup finals. A slip fielder is positioned behind the batsman on the off side of the field. Slip fielders are typically placed to catch an edged ball or a glanced ball that is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach.
Despite losing Shubman Gill early, India was 80/2 after 10 overs. India managed 12 boundaries in the first 10 overs but managed only 4 fours in the next 40 overs, as a result, the 241-run target proved below par.
Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli started off on a good note but they ended up falling to poor shot selections. While both of them are the only Indian cricketers to play their 7th ICC tournament final after Yuvraj Singh, they got caught out by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, respectively