Australia won the World Cup for the sixth time silencing more than 90,000 Indian supporters at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19. They defeated hosts India by six wickets chasing down the modest total of 240 runs with ease as Travis Head became the third Australian batter to score a ton in the World Cup final. Australia has shattered a billion dreams as they cruised to victory in the final of World Cup 2023. They won the trophy for the sixth time and didn’t let India repeat their 2011 feat 12 years later.
India had defeated everyone on their way to this World Cup. They were dreaming of lifting that crown again. The dream didn’t seem to be naive either. Their performances were drawn parallel to the Australian invincibles of 2003 and 2007 and they were one step short of emulating it. After that dominance in the previous matches, everyone came together to celebrate an Indian win in the final as if the script was prepared by supernatural powers above human interference.
It seemed the universe powers were possibly going India’s way in this tournament as they sent a thrashing to many teams they faced in the competition. The final was a clash between this tournament’s best team (India) and the best team in the history of the tournament (Australia). It did not go as planned on the final night for the hosts. Australia did what they are all about. This was not the 2003 or 2007 Australian side or not maybe close to those either.
But this Indian team was probably the best for a long time or ever seen. This breaks the Indian hearts more. But this is what sport is. Australia were surprisingly not the favourites going into the final but as they say, ‘the one who plays better on a given day is the ultimate winner of the day’. India played better than all the nine other competing teams in all the previous encounters. They were hardly put in serious trouble in the group stage and found success against New Zealand in semis not by a big margin but not by a small margin either.
It was all on that one day that took the Indian team from the top of the world to the second best. One can argue that the conditions have played a part in deciding the outcome of this game. It was sluggish when they batted and eased a bit in the chase. But there shall be nothing to take away from Australia. They bowled an Indian batting lineup for just 240. Australia got their hands on the World Cup, India left heartbroken but would take heart from what they have done. A fairy tale ending just got missed for the Indians.
