So there you have it! The Aussies have lifted the Cricket World Cup trophy for the sixth time now after their six wicket win v the Hosts Team India a few hours ago at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
They won the toss with little surprise by going to bowl/field first and it actually paid off really well, having got both key men in Virat Kohli & KL Rahul not long after their respective 50s before Australia bowled India all out for 240 right at the end of the opposition’s 50-over batting shift. Then all the Aussies have to do is meet the 241 run target later on with the bat and the tournament will be theirs where they didn’t fire off well thanks to the early dismissals of Dave Warner, Mitchell Marsh & Steve Smith. But there’s one man who made Australia’s resurgent turnaround end India’s unbeaten streak is the other opener Travis Head, who scored an almighty 137, as Australia take home both the win by six wickets along with that prestigious trophy.
Commiserations to Team India who wanted to cap off their unbeaten campaign on a perfect sweep until this point, which was ruined by the Aussies on their home turf in front of a very huge crowd. India hoped they can score something big after their semi-final win v New Zealand where some good Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli & KL Rahul weren’t bad before things went downhill unexpectedly to 240 thanks to an brilliant Australian on-field display.
The same has been said later on when Mohammed Shami saw Dave Warner knock to Kohli that early while Jasprit Bumrah also quickly dismissed both M. Marsh & Steve Smith, but unfortunately couldn’t find a way to stop Head in its tracks where the fan noise volume went pretty quiet for the rest of the night due to his stunning knock off the willow. India might still be one of the top opponents to face regularly, but winning World Cups isn’t their trophy hunting ground having won twice back in 1983 & 2011.
And the now six-time World Champions Australian side showed what they can go to bounce back from 0-2 at the start to being triumphant at the final with the trophy. First of all, their fielding has been top-notch where they stopped some potential boundaries while producing stunning catches along the way that gave the bowlers some credit. Great seeing the Fast Bowling group pick up most of the wickets such as Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood that limited India’s ability to score big in the final.
Then with the bat, we all know Dave Warner will no longer be playing International Cricket soon while questions will be raised about Steve Smith in particular, who hasn’t been in great form lately, despite rejecting the chance to appeal his LBW dismissal which went outside the line. But as said, how good was Travis Head where he has silenced the crowd with some amazing cricket shots downtown alongside some amazing back up at the other end from Marnus Labuschagne. Now Marnus is more Test focused but he can still make a decent impact when he can possible. And although we would’ve loved to see Head finish off the winning runs when he couldn’t find the rope straight to Shubman Gill, but still it was an amazing final where Glenn Maxwell came in next up to hit two runs that steered the Aussies home first towards their record 6th world crown!!
Bring on Test Cricket now as the Home summer is coming back soon for another season sometime next month where there will be three Tests v Pakistan through Christmas/New Year + another two-match series v West Indies in January.