Head knocks the wind out of India as Australia clinch sixth World Cup
After 10 consecutive wins to reach the final, India were outplayed by Australia on a slow Ahmedabad pitch as the visitors clinched an eye-popping sixth men’s World Cup title. If Australia’s bowlers put the choke-hold to restrict India to 240, it was Travis Head who delivered the final slam with his rollicking 120-ball 137 as they cruised to a six-wicket win. Head, playing decisive roles in the semifinal and final of a World Cup, ensured he placed his name in history and joined an elite list of Mohinder Amarnath, Aravinda de Silva and Shane Warne to win Player of the Match awards in the knockout games. The chase was not without stutters early on, as Australia slipped to 47/3 albeit with a healthy run-rate. Mohammed Shami, tasked with the new ball for the first time in this World Cup, struck with his second ball to have David Warner caught at slip. Jasprit Bumrah, after conceding 15 in his first over, bounced back to have Mitchell Marsh caught behind and outfoxed Steven Smith with a slower ball. Smith chose not to review with replays later confirming that he was struck outside off, and it betrayed signs of nerves in the chase. However, Head along with a disciplined Marnus Labuschagne slowly and steadily reversed the pressure with a 192-run stand. With the spinners not getting much purchase on a slow surface, the duo stuck to their plans of rebuilding with a mixture of defence and attack. India’s second line of attack fell apart as Head first slog-swept Kuldeep Yadav for a six and Jadeja was consistently milked. It meant that the final became the only game in this World Cup where India’s spinners went wicketless, with the slowness off the surface largely negating their threat whatsoever. Nevertheless, the duo played the conditions perfectly hitting boundaries early in the return spells to ensure that India never had an opening thereafter. They put on a massive partnership for the fourth wicket, to take the game away clinically from India. Head fell eventually with Australia needing just 2 more which was duly completed by Glenn Maxwell, to finish off the job started by their captain with the ball. Earlier in the day, a clinical display of bowling to the conditions had enabled Australia to restrict India to a middling total of 240 after putting them in to bat. In front of a capacity crowd over 100000, Pat Cummins decided to take a chance and bowl first on the dry pitch despite India’s imperious batting record through the tournament. His judgement call threatened to be proven wrong as India, led by Rohit Sharma once again, got the momentum in the powerplay. Sharma set the tone with a string of boundaries hitting Josh Hazlewood off his lengths even as Shubman Gill fell miscuing to mid on. But Virat Kohli got going just like Sharma, hitting Mitchell Starc for three consecutive boundaries to keep India’s run-rate up. So far it had played to India’s template with Rohit racing towards a quickfire fifty. But Australia kept them on their toes with the introduction of spin which paid dividends. Sharma tried to hit Maxwell out but ended up miscuing one high up and Travis Head completed a superb catch running back and across from cover-point. An already silenced crowd was stunned further when Shreyas Iyer fell nicking behind to a cutter from Cummins. Losing two wickets in the space of four balls forced India into a position of consolidation, which was done resolutely by the duo of Kohli and KL Rahul. While they remained steadfast, it was also a period where Australia were equally standout with the ball, allowing no freebies whatsoever. The duo went through a period of 97 balls without a boundary with even the likes of Mitchell Marsh keeping the lines tight. Leading the way with the bowling plans for the pacers was Cummins (10-0-34-2 without conceding a boundary) who had set the tone with his off-pace cutters. But India had their hopes up as Kohli brought up his 9th fifty of the tournament and 5th consecutive one. Those hopes were dashed though by Cummins’ ploy, as another banged-in cutter saw Kohli chopping on after 54. The weight of the 765 runs that Kohli had amassed through the tournament mattered little at this point as India were pushed into another corner. They responded by changing up the batting order with Ravindra Jadeja getting a promotion. But even this ploy did not mess up Australia’s lines as the boundaries simply did not come. Rahul, who held up one end, also brought up a fifty but there was no big finish to cap it off this time. Australia now found reverse swing as well which added to the challenge. Hazlewood had Jadeja nicking behind from round the wicket while Starc mirrored that at the other angle to prise out the defiant Rahul. Suryakumar Yadav’s attempts to shepherd the tail as well as give India a boost did not come off as he gloved a slow bouncer from Hazlewood, effectively ending any chance of a late surge as India were eventually bowled out for 240 – a total that proved too little on the back of Head’s calculated assault. Brief scores (Cricbuzz)
India 240 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 47, Virat Kohli 54, K L Rahul 66; Mitchell Starc 3-55, Josh Hazelwood 2-60, Pat Cummins 2-34) lost to Australia 241/4 in 43 overs (Travis Head 137, Marnus Labuschagne 58*; Jasprit Bumrah 2-43 ) by six wickets
