The stage was set for glory at home, but India didn’t turn up. What went wrong for India, who were looking unstoppable in their run to the final? The Telegraph picks out the key moments and factors that sum up the loss in Ahmedabad.
INDIA INNINGS
Overs 9.4: Even after losing his opening partner Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma was going great guns, intimidating the Aussies with his authoritative strokeplay. He was on 47 from 30 balls, had just hit Glenn Maxwell for a six and a four in the previous two balls when he again stepped out for another big one. But this time, he miscued, the ball soared high on the off-side and Travis Head, running from cover, completed a superb diving catch.
Impact: Aggression overdone, it killed India’s scoring momentum. Had Rohit continued for a few more overs, the Aussies would have been totally on the backfoot.
Overs 10.1-26.1: Nine fours and three sixes in the first 10 overs and then no boundaries for the next 16.1 overs! As Virat Kohli and KL Rahul went into a shell, Australia captain Pat Cummins very intelligently pushed through his fifth-bowling options — Marsh, Head, Maxwell. Only 55 runs were scored during this period.
Impact: All the hard-earned momentum that Rohit gave the team was lost during this period. Being careful is not being ultra-defensive, and certainly not for batters of the class of Kohli and KL.
Overs 28.3: A short ball from Cummins, angled in and while Kohli jumped to fend at it, he only played the ball onto his stumps.
Impact: If building a partnership to last deep into the innings was the intention behind India’s muted batting, it all came to a zero when Kohli got out. The idea was that Kohli and KL would shift gears later, but that ‘later’ never arrived.
Overs 28.4: Ravindra Jadeja walks out ahead of Suryakumar Yadav.
Impact: Why? To keep a left-right combination (KL Rahul the other batter) at the crease? To give the scoring rate a facelift? Whatever was the logic, it was flawed. Jadeja ate up 22 balls, scored only 9 and India’s case got worse.
Overs 40.1-50: The last 10 overs, produced only 43 runs for India. They managed only two fours. KL was out on 41.3 overs after scoring 66 off 107 balls. The other hope, Suryakumar, was out on 47.3 overs, scoring only 18 off 28 balls.
Impact: The start and the end of the Indian innings were in absolute contrast. A total of 240 looked below par and the Aussies knew the chase was very much within their control barring mishaps.
Travis Head takes a catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma in the World Cup final. PTI photo
AUSTRALIA INNINGS
Overs 0.1-45.2: The time Travis Head spent at the crease, for 120 balls and 166 minutes. He scored 137 runs, hit 15 fours and four sixes. Overall, he alone scored more than half of the runs that Australia needed to win.
Impact: That Head would be a big threat if he stayed at the crease for long was known, yet the Indians could hardly come up with a plan to counter his aggressive ways. Except the regular stuff, India did little to unsettle Head, who ran away with the match in quick time.
