CWC 2023 Final, Australia VS India Played at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Gujrat, India on 19 November 2023
India 240 All Out in 50 Overs (K L Rahul 66, Virat Kohli 54, Rohit Sharma 47, Mitchel Starc 3/55, Pat Cummins 2/54, Jos Hazlewood 2/60, Glen Maxwell 1/35)
Australia 241/4 in 43 Overs (Travis Head 137, Marus Labuchagne 58*, Jasprit Bumrah 2/43, Mohammad Sami 1/45, Mohammad Siraj 1/47)
Australia Won by 6 wickets
Player of The Match: Travis Head (137)
Player Of the Tournament: Virat Kohli
130,000 cricket worshippers assembling at Iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad turned it into an ocean of blue chirping and chanting for team India. Five times world champions of the past playing to the best of their abilities silenced that massive gathering winning huge and handsome their 6th World Cup in style.
Winning the toss and letting India bat first on a tricky sluggish wicket Australia restricted them to 240. Travis Head Playing an innings of his lifetime (137) and putting together a match winning partnership of 192 with Marnus Labuchagne (58*) earned Australia the coveted 6th World Cup Championship in grand fashion. The dream of Team India was buried below the blue Ocean at Narendra Modi.
India was the standout team of CWC 2023 winning all its group matches comfortably and winning the semifinal as well. Australia starting with two losses also got its momentum back winning seven subsequent matches. A mouth-watering contest was on the card as two evenly matched teams met at the final when all roads led to Narendra Modi stadium. A few conspiracy theories like pitch swapping, toss manipulation was on the air. But on the day Pat Cummins winning the all-important toss advantaged Australia bowling first on a sluggish wicket where batting required patience, skill, grasping and grinding.
Team India unfortunately could not do that. Rohit tried to blow out Aussie bowling. But on the day Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins proved as horses for the courses exploiting the conditions to the best of their abilities. KL Rahul (66), Virat Kohli (54), Rohit Sharma (47) had start but none could convert their innings bigger. Australians bowled and fielded smartly. 240 that India scored was perhaps 25-30 runs too less to be competitive. Mitchel Starc (3/55), Pat Cummins (2/34), Jos Hazlewood (2/60) proved why they are match winners. The entire Australian team fielded like hungry Kangaroos.
The ball swung and seamed a bit for Bumrah and Sami. Australia was reduced to 3/47. But then Travis Head (137) playing an innings of his lifetime and producing a match winning partnership of 192 with patient Marnus Labuchagne (58*) won Australia big by 6 wickets. In his brilliant innings Head struck 15 fours and four sixes. Each of his strike silenced cheering home crowd making the terrace into a blue ocean. Golden Yellow and Green empathetically won its 6th world, the second from India. Travis Head was adjudged player of the match. Virat Kohli was declared player of the tournament.
With Australian win curtains dropped of a month and half long amazing journey of cricket world cup in 9 cities across the length and breadth of India. Cricket world saw for the last time some all-time greats of cricket. So many great memories CWC 2023 left behind for cricket worshippers to cherish.
Source: BBC
BDST: 0841 HRS, NOV 18, 2023
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