It was a tailormade run chase for Steve Smith in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 final against India. On a tough wicket, Smith was expected to do the hard yards against a menacing Indian bowling attack but he made a massive mistake of not opting for DRS to overturn umpire Richard Kettleborough’s decision.
In the seventh over of Australia's run chase, Smith bowled a brilliant slower ball to break through Smith's defense. The ball hit Smith on the pad and there was deafening cheer at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. All players including Bumrah went up and the umpire raised his finger straightaway.
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While Bumrah celebrated the wicket he had planned in a rare wild manner, Smith had a conversation with his partner Travis Head. Smith could not convince Head and decided not to review.
But as soon as Smith left the ground, he would have pulled his hair in disappointment. The impact on the pad was clearly outside the line of the stumps. Had he reviewed it, the decision would have been overturned.
Smith scored just four runs from nine balls. He managed to hit just one boundary in the innings and faced eight dot balls. Earlier in the over he had hit Bumrah for a boundary down the ground to get off the mark. In the run chase of 240, Australia were reduced to 47/3 despite a blazing start.
With the wicket of Smith, India also created a World Cup record. This was the 98th wicket Indian bowlers took in World Cup 2023, the most in a single edition. The previous record belonged to Australia. In 2007, they took 97 wickets and went on to win the trophy.
Bumrah made a brilliant comeback as he bowled two maidens in the five-over opening spell and took two wickets. He started off with the wicket of Mitchell Marsh in the fifth over. Marsh slashed his bat at a delivery outside off stump and got caught by Rahul.
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