India vs Australia World cup final: First innings talking points

India have to defend 240 to win their 3rd ODI World Cup while Australia will need 241 runs to win their 6th title. These are the talking points from the first innings.

Aussies electrifying on the field
Winning the toss and choosing to field first, Australia were electrifying on the field. India made a customary lightning start to the game courtesy of some big hits from skipper Rohit Sharma (47 of 31). However, Pat Cummins & co were not fazed as they gave it their all on the field, saving runs every time the ball was headed to the boundary and it paid off. Despite India's quick start, Australia's fielding pressure paid off as they snapped the first 3 wickets quickly with Travis Head taking a blinder to send the dangerous Sharma back. The fielders continued to put pressure as India never really recovered after a quick first 10 overs.

Tight bowling
The fielding was supported by excellent bowling as India never scored above 5 runs per over after reaching 80/2 after the 10th over. India scored only 2 fours from the end of the 10th over until the 42nd, going 97 balls without a boundary at one point. And the vice grip on the Indian batters continued as no batter apart from Virat Kohli (54 of 63) scored at a quick enough rate to boost India's innings.

Suryakumar's bizarre batting
All eyes were on Suryakumar Yadav in the death overs as the top batters departed, with India hoping he would the majority of the strike and go big towards the end. However, despite batting with the tail, SKY was more than happy to take singles and reach the non-striker's end. Although the conditions did not favour his style of batting, SKY should have farmed more of the strike. But by the time he decided to take strike and go big, it was too late and he was eventually out for a pedestrian innings of just 18 of 28 balls. His torturous stay at the crease was emblematic of India's struggles with the bat against the clever Australian bowlers, who exploited the conditions perfectly.