ODI World Cup Final: Batters fall flat as Australia restrict India to 240 in summit clash
ODI World Cup Final Photograph:( X )
Story highlights
Having put India into bat, Australia made light work of the Indian batters despite good starts for key batters like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and skipper Rohit Sharma. Only four batters got into double figures for India while all of Australia's frontline bowlers were amongst the wickets to derail the Indian batting line-up that had fired throughout the tournament.
Having put India into bat, Australia made light work of the Indian batters despite good starts for key batters like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and skipper Rohit Sharma. Only four batters got into double figures for India while all of Australia's frontline bowlers were amongst the wickets to derail the Indian batting line-up that had fired throughout the tournament.
Indian batters were caught flat in the ODI World Cup final on Sunday (Nov 19) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as Australia restricted them to 240. Considering India’s rich form with the bat in the tournament, the off-power show saw smiles on five-time champions and their fans at mid-innings. KL Rahul was the top scorer for Team India with 66 while Virat Kohli scored 54, but failed to convert his innings into a big one.
Innings Break!#TeamIndia post 2⃣4⃣0⃣ on the board!
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 19, 2023
6⃣6⃣ for KL Rahul
5⃣4⃣ for Virat Kohli
4⃣7⃣ for Captain Rohit Sharma
Over to our bowlers now 👌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/uVJ2k8mWSt #CWC23 | #MenInBlue | #INDvAUS | #Final pic.twitter.com/22oteriZnE
Australia derail India in final
Having put India into bat, Australia made light work of the Indian batters despite starts for key batters like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and skipper Rohit Sharma. Only four batters got into double figures for India while all of Australia's frontline bowlers were amongst the wickets to derail the Indian batting line-up that had fired throughout the tournament.
While Rohit and Shubman Gill (4) put in 30 runs for the opening wicket, it was the Aussie bowlers that made the headline. After Gill's dismissal, India had steadied the ship with Virat and Rohit but the latter was caught by the impressive Travis Head on 47 from which India never recovered. Shreyas Iyer was caught in quick succession as well on 4.
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KL Rahul and Virat then stitched a partnership of 67 runs for the fourth wicket, however, once the latter was dismissed India's hopes of mounting a big total were shattered. However, smart captaincy from Pat Cummins saw India face an uphill task and were finally bowled out for 240 on the final ball of the innings.
Mitchell Starc ended with figures of 55/3 while Josh Hazlewood and skipper Cummins got two each. Cummins’s dismissal of Virat proved to be the turning point as Indian hopes were massively dented. There were wickets for Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell as well with the latter getting the prize asset of Rohit Sharma.
India will now hope to restrict the Aussies below 240 and win their third ODI World Cup while Australia will target a sixth World Cup win in the backyard of their traditional rivals.
