Mitchell Starc, the fast bowler from Australia, took three wickets in Sunday’s World Cup Final in Ahmedabad in front of 130,000 spectators.
The five-time cricket champions Australia chose to bat first, and their players supported the decision of skipper Pat Cummins with impressive bowling and fielding in the largest stadium for the sport.
Australia needs 241 points to win their sixth World Cup. India is chasing its third World Cup title after 1983 and 2011
Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma hit 54 and 56 respectively following Rohit’s 47-point attack. However, the ball was dominant on the slow and dry pitch.
Starc is a left arm quick who returned 3-55, while Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and other pace bowlers each claimed 2 to finish the 50-over innings.
Inglis, the wicketkeeper in the World Cup Finals, claimed five catches.
Rohit started off with a 6 in the 4th over, followed by a 4. However, Starc took out his partner Shubman for a 4, and he lost him.
Kohli began cautiously, but quickly gained momentum with three consecutive boundaries against Starc that brought the crowd up to their feet.
Australia brought spin to the game in the 8th over, replacing Hazlewood with Glenn Maxwell. He soon claimed Rohit’s big breakthrough.
Travis Head made a spectacular catch running from the cover point while India’s captain missed a shot.
India’s unbeaten record of 10 victories was shattered when Cummins caught Shreyas, the in-form Shreyas, behind the stumps for 4 runs. Iyer had just scored two hundreds and came in the match with a perfect score.
Rahul joined Kohli in their 67-point partnership, which was interrupted briefly by an anti-Palestinian.
India was unable to score a boundary in 16.1 overs, as a combination of disciplined Australian fielding and bowling combined with a sharp Australian attack denied the batsman pair any easy runs.
Kohli scored his fifth consecutive fifty or more in the tournament, and Rahul broke free with a four against Maxwell.
Cummins’ delivery of Kohli was a testament to his words from before the match that “there is nothing more satisfying than hearing an entire crowd fall silent”.
Cummins and Kohli celebrated after Kohli tripped over a delivery that was too short.
After averaging over 95, the star batsman finishes with 765 runs, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s 49 tons in the semi final against New Zealand.
Rahul scored his fifty within 86 deliveries and tried to hold the innings until the end. However, Starc caught the batsman behind the ball and the remainder of the order did not last very long.
