A cracking start, a limp finish. That pretty much sums up the first half of the most widely anticipated World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
Long before the 1.30 pm toss, the venue was awash in a veritable sea of blue. The electricity was palpable, most notably when upwards of 110,000 people sang along with the Indian national anthem, minutes before Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill were to take guard. An airshow by the Indian Air Force’s Surya Kiran brigade added to the drama of the occasion, the final flypast just before the first ball was to be bowled - the icing on a fabulous show of skill.
Skill was pretty much the theme for the next three and a half hours. Skill from Rohit Sharma, who reprised his heroics of the entire competition with another pulsating knock that threatened to take the game away from the Aussies. Skill from his opposite number Pat Cummins, who bowled superbly on a slow deck that stymied free scoring. Skill from Virat Kohli, who bedded in once he realised that this wasn’t a 300-plus track. Skill from Adam Zampa and the versatile left-arm quick Mitchell Starc, and from KL Rahul, whose lot it was to shore up the second half of the Indian innings. And exceptional skill from Australia’s fielders, who threw themselves on the lush outfield to cut off every run as if their lives depended on it; Travis Head’s stunning catch running back from cover to dismiss Rohit potentially the seminal moment of the tournament.
India’s 240 – they were bowled out for the first time in the World Cup, off the last delivery of the 50th innings – was a fair few less than what they would have hoped to get, than they ought to have got. Much of it had to do with the expertise of Australia’s multi-pronged bowling group. There was turn for Glenn Maxwell and Zampa, but it was the quicker bowlers who did the most damage, this after being at the receiving end of Rohit’s scything willow inside the first Powerplay.
Also read: India vs Australia World cup final: First innings talking points
Rohit has made it a habit of getting the team off to cracking starts and he wasn’t going to change anything even if it was the final, which is how it should be. Cummins won a crucial toss and sparked several raised-eyebrows when he chose to field, and Rohit immediately seized the initiative with a brilliant bouquet of strokes against Josh Hazlewood as he got on the bike and sped away.
Shubman Gill fell to the pull, caught at mid-on to put Starc in business, but Rohit and Kohli continued to impose themselves on the opposition, the latter smacking Starc for three consecutive fours. The stands were throbbing, erupting with each boundary as India breezed past 50, eased into the 60s and thundered into the 70s.
Then came the moment when Head produced a stunning piece of magic. Having battered Maxwell for a towering six and a cracking four, Rohit attempted another big hit. As the ball sliced off the outer half of the blade, Head turned and ran behind from cover, eventually completing a superb catch diving forward as the ball arrived over his shoulder. It was the kind of effort that ought to have lifted the team, any team. That’s precisely what it did.
India lapsed into stupor once Kohli was followed into the pavilion by Shreyas Iyer four deliveries later. From a position of promise at 76 for one in 9.3 overs, India had slumped to 81 for three in 10.2. The ball was quickly losing its hardness, the Aussies used changes of pace as an effective weapon and the score board crawled along, the boundaries conspicuous by their absence.
Kohli and Rahul rebuilt with intelligence, aware that for a new batsman, the task of getting set would be extremely difficult. They didn’t care that the boundaries didn’t come, they didn’t mind if at various stages, they could barely pick up a run or two from several overs in a row. Their aim was to stabilise and build a base for a final assault, and they tasted reasonable success whilst adding 67 when Cummins procured additional bounce and forced Kohli to play on, the sluggishness of the surface previously used for the Indo-Pak game playing its part.
On the eve of the final, Cummins had spoken about silencing the crowd, and Kohli’s wicket had precisely that effect. You could hear a pin drop; the match was on a razor’s edge with India four down and more than 20 overs still left in the innings. By now, all thoughts of an attacking riposte were put on the backburner. The onus was more on survival, on batting through the innings, on giving something for their crack bowling attack to work with. India managed only 88 in the last 20 overs and lost their last five wickets for a mere 37 runs. This wasn’t the script that the audience had written out, but when does sport ever follow pre-ordered scripts.
Just to put the discipline of Australia’s bowling in perspective, India managed a mere four boundaries in the last 40 overs, almost unheard of in modern-day 50-over cricket. Even accounting for how daunting stroke-making was on this pitch, it was a remarkable show of consistency and purpose from an attack led from the front by Cummins, who also had a glorious day as skipper with his field placings and bowling changes. The way Australia regrouped after Rohit’s initial pyrotechnics was testament to their character. There is a reason why they have won five World Cups previously, of course.
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