Virat Kohli, gutted, refused to move. It was as if he believed he was destined to bat for much longer on the final day of the World Cup but had somehow been robbed of the opportunity.
Pat Cummins’s innocuous, slow short-of-a-length delivery hadn’t reared alarmingly near the off stump but was close enough to cramp him for room. He tried to nudge it off the back foot, but only managed to drag it onto his stumps.
As Cummins went wild pumping his fists in a celebratory run, the crowd fell silent. It remained that way for most of Sunday.
Having just crossed his half-century, Kohli had looked destined for his fourth hundred in this edition. With him lay India’s hopes following the departure of Rohit Sharma inside the first 10 overs.
Stunned by the turn of events, Kohli stood there for a while before dragging himself back to a lonely, long walk to the dressing room. It hadn’t been easy given that the Australian bowlers had made life difficult with a calculative and disciplined attack.
A target of 241 proved easy as Cummins’s team showed the will to fight it out. On a day when it mattered the Indians threw their positive cricket to the winds and lethargic, unimaginative batting contributed to their downfall.
In the end, Rohit and his men stood in a daze as the Australians danced to the tune of “We are the champions”. Face covered with his cap and a tad emotional, Rohit often closed his eyes during the prize distribution. No amount of consolation from Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid seemed likely to provide him comfort.
This was not how it was supposed to end. Long before Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the trophy to Cummins, the 93,000-plus crowd had started to leave the stadium. A rare off day had come at the most inappropriate time following a 10-match unbeaten run. And the Aussies had kept intact their record of never conceding an ICC event final to India.
Travis Head, whose century in the World Test Championship final a few months ago at The Oval in London had dented India’s hopes, once again proved their nemesis. A splendid 137 off 120 balls paved the way for the six-wicket victory, handing Australia their sixth 50-over World Cup title.
Much like 2003 at the Wanderers, India remained satisfied with being second best. The host nation had failed to clinch the championship after three editions since 2011.
Cummins summed it up well. “We saved our best for the last. A couple of big-match players stepped up and chuffed. Today we thought it was a good night to chase and thought it would be easier to chase,” he said.
Three early wickets did provide hope for Rohit Sharma’s men during the Australian chase but Head and Marnus Labuschagne were up for the challenge. The bowlers erred but they also had too little to defend on this slow wicket that offered variable bounce.
The Indian batting simply failed to rise to the occasion. Only 13 boundaries were hit during the innings, which is a fair commentary on the Australians’ dominance. While Kohli was sharp with the singles, K.L. Rahul wasn’t that effective in finding the gaps.
Once Kohli left, it became worse. Wickets fell at regular intervals and there was none to shoulder the responsibility. Rahul’s 66 came off 107 balls and included just one boundary. There was no attempt to take the fight to the opposition after Rohit’s early onslaught had given India a head start.
“The result hasn’t gone our way and we know that we were not good enough on the day. But I’m proud of the team,” Rohit said. “Honestly, another 20-30 runs would’ve been good. I thought when KL and Virat were batting, we were looking at 270-280 at that point, but we kept losing wickets.”
What really hurt was that the team threw in the towel too early. There were nerves and it showed in the Indians’ body language. All the good work in the round-robin stage and the semi-final had come to naught.
But there will still be positive takeaways: Kohli’s 765 runs in 11 innings, Rohit’s explosive innings at the start, and the way the Fab Five operated. That will remain the only consolation for Rohit.
