AHMEDABAD, Nov 19:
Where did India lose the World Cup final against Australia? Well, they lost the battle on all fronts.
1. Toss: When Cummins chose to bowl after winning the toss, there was a quiet disbelief. India could first use a pitch that could remain slow, and pile up a big total to put the Aussies under pressure.
But obviously Cummins had seen something we hadn’t. Perhaps, he made a Holmes-que study of the surface after clicking pictures of it the previous day.
2. India’s Head-ache: The left-handed Head teamed up with Marnus Labuschagne when Australia were in a spot of bother, having lost three wickets under 50 runs. The target of 241 was not a huge one, but this Indian bowling carried the skillsets to exploit even the minutest of chances.
But Head did not give them even a creek using his twinkling feet and fast hands, while making 192 runs for the fourth-wicket with Labuschagne. His hundred was the second against India in an ICC event final, after he cracked a 163 against them in the WTC final earlier this June.
3. Australia manic on the field: The Antipodeans have always been a very good fielding side, and they raised the bar one notch up in the summit clash, saving, possibly, 40 runs. Head started that sequence.
4. Cummins & Co. Fire on slow pitch: Coming to the title clash, Cummins’ run-rate was above six and he had taken 13 wickets from 10 matches, modest numbers for a premier fast bowler. But the New South Welshman embossed his signature on the final.
Shreyas Iyer came to the final riding on back-to-back centuries, and Kohli has been nothing short of imperious in the marquee event. The Aussies needed to silence them and Cummins did that job.
It’s not just those two high-value wickets, but Cummins kept his run-rate below four and the Indian batsmen could not score even a single boundary off him in the entire innings. Just unbelievable in a high-pressure match!
5. Aussies have India in tail-‘spin’: Australian spinners smother Indian batsmen. Sounds funny? No, it happened in Motera. Adam Zampa, Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head, is not your most conniving spin troika but together they gave away only 83 runs in 18 overs in the middle passage, draining Indian batsmen of boundaries.
Kohli and Rahul could manage only one four during their 97-ball association. India also suffered another barren spell between 41st and 50th overs, scoring just two fours through Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. (PTI)
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