India had to fight their way to 240 all out as Australia was spot on both in the field and with the ball. India’s Rohit Sharma stated that his team would have batted first even if Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins had won the toss and elected to bowl first. As usual, Rohit got off to a blistering start, but Shubman Gill, who had an incredible record in Ahmedabad across all formats, was knocked out early by Mitchell Starc. Virat Kohli entered the game with all guns blazing, but three runs short of his half-century, Travis Head made a sensational catch, and Rohit fell to Glenn Maxwell shortly after.
In the following over, Cummins got the highly effective Shreyas Iyer, and Kohli and KL Rahul attempted to right the Indian ship. After the tenth over, the boundaries virtually dried up, and Kohli was out for 54 off 63. Rahul then made an attempt to finish the innings, but in the 36th over, elevated before Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja collapsed, dealing further blow to India. Rahul scored a half-century with SKY providing support, marking the final encounter between acknowledged Indian batsmen. Rahul eventually fell on 66 off 107 against Starc. India was dismissed for 240 in 50 overs as Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav combined to score 14 runs for the final wicket.
With Mohammed Shami taking the new ball rather than Mohammed Siraj, Team India got off to a strong defensive start. David Warner was dismissed with the second ball of Shami’s first over. Mitchell Marsh was then removed from the game by Jasprit Bumrah. Despite their high cost, both bowlers were successful in stopping two of Australia’s most potent top-order hitters.
Opener Travis Head struck a magnificent century to spearhead Australia’s comeback after a wobbly start, while Marnus Labuschagne patiently scored 57 off 109 balls. Australia defeated Rohit and Co. by six wickets thanks to the second-highest run stand in the World Cup final, prolonging their trophy drought in the ICC competitions. Superstar Head’s historic 137-run innings versus India at Narendra Modi Stadium.
After India lost to Australia in the ICC World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, former captain of India Virat Kohli was named the Player of the Tournament. In the World Cup 2023, batting legend Virat Kohli overtook Sachin Tendulkar’s record total of 49 ODI centuries. Kohli crushed 765 runs in 11 World Cup games.
A brief glance at the players that were named Player of the Match in the World Cup finals:
Clive Lloyd, 1975
Viv Richards, 1979
Mohinder Amarnath, 1983
– David Boon, 1987
Wasim Akram, 1992
Aravinda de Silva, 1996
Shane Warne, 1999
Ricky Ponting in 2003
Adam Gilchrist in 2007
– MS Dhoni, 2011
James Faulkner, 2015
– Ben Stokes, 2019
Travis Head, 2023