The first session of a final often gives an indication of the way the game could be heading towards. On Sunday, both India and Australia had their sets of performers to leave the game evenly poised at the halfway stage.

Mitchell Starc

Finished with the best figures (3/55) for the Aussies. He was backed up by some sharp fielding and did well to keep Rohit Sharma quiet though the India captain was going after Josh Hazlewood at the other end. Starc bowled the hard length to dismiss Rohit’s opening partner Shubman Gill.

In his last spell, it was a fine exhibition of reverse swing that not just denied India some vital runs but also earned him the key wicket of a well-set KL Rahul.

Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins had made a mark with his field placings that helped Australia save a few boundaries in the Powerplay. When he came on to bowl, captain Cummins (2/34) was quick to strike, pitching it on that off-stump channel to remove the in-form Shreyas Iyer.

Cummins was spot-on with his line and length. That Virat Kohli wasn’t too comfortable with the pull the last time both teams squared off in Chennai was something on Cummins’ mind. He bowled a back-of-a-length delivery to extract that awkward bounce, getting the better of a set Kohli.

Virat Kohli

Australia had their tail up when Rohit and Iyer perished in back-to-back overs. But Kohli (54), having begun with three boundaries off one Starc over, focused on steadying the ship and rotated the strike with KL Rahul on what was a dry, slow and tricky surface to bat on.

KL Rahul

Not at his fluent best, but on that Motera surface, Rahul’s 66 — with just one boundary — was pivotal to India reaching 240. The departure of Kohli after their 67-run fourth-wicket stand could well have disrupted Rahul’s concentration, but he carried on with his grind to ensure India crossed the 200 mark.

Travis Head

Rohit began as Rohit usually does, blazing his way to 47 when Travis Head took a blinder of a catch to end his breezy innings. Rohit mishit one from Glenn Maxwell, and Head running backwards from cover-point stretched almost full length for a dive to take a clean catch. With his part-time off-spin too, Head gave away just four off his two overs.