Australia rode on Mitchell Starc's stunning spell to cause Team India's batting collapse in the all-important ODI World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19, Sunday. Starc returned with a stunning bowling figures of 3/55 to reduce India to a not-so impressive total of 240 in the crunch clash.
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Starc snared the prized wickets of India's star top-order batters Shubman Gill and KL Rahul and then followed it by removing Mohammed Shami in the end.
After the end of first innings, Starc admitted that it was not an easy wicket to bat on. "We bowled second here against England and it was a little dewy, the wicket (today) is a little bit dry and hopefully the dew comes in and we don't see any reverse in the second innings, not an easy wicket to bat on, the easiest time to bat perhaps is against the hard new ball and there are runs to be scored and it is not going to be easy, but it is what you ask for, it is a world cup final. What more can you ask for!," Star said.
However the veteran pacer was all praise for Australia's bowling brigade.
“You can always plan for things, the way we contributed with the ball is fantastic first up and now out there (need to do the job) with the bat. There is not a whole heap of help for the seam bowlers and swing bowlers, was trying to do a few different things, vary the pace a little bit. Patty (Cummins) and Josh (Hazlewood) were outstanding and obviously a little bit of reverse at the back end. Hopefully we restricted them to enough (runs),” the 33-year-old concluded.
Despite raising eyebrows with his decision to field first, Australian skipper Pat Cummins found his bowlers, aided by some exceptional fielding, putting the brakes on India's scoring rate. Indian captain Rohit Sharma, known for his ability to set the tone for his team's batting innings throughout the tournament, continued his fine form in the final, despite the early departure of Shubman Gill. Displaying his trademark aggression, Virat Kohli (54) unleashed a flurry of three boundaries off Starc's bowling. However, India's batting fortunes took a sharp turn for the worse in the 11th over when Shreyas Iyer was dismissed by Pat Cummins, leaving India reeling at 81/3. Undeterred by the early setbacks, Kohli and KL Rahul (66) embarked on a cautious rebuilding effort, even if it meant enduring a prolonged period of 16.1 overs without a boundary. Kohli, the tournament's leading run-scorer, notched up his ninth half-century in 11 innings, but his stay was cut short when he chopped a Cummins delivery onto his stumps. Rahul, known for his elegant strokeplay, found the going tough on the testing pitch and managed just one boundary in his half-century. His struggle highlighted the difficulties faced by batsmen in finding fluent scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, Australia's wicketkeeper Josh Inglis pouched five catches, etching his name in the record books for holding the most catches in a World Cup final.
India's Playing XI
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia's Playing XI
Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
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