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After winning the ICC World Cup in 2023 with a perfect
score of 10, Rohit Sharma’s Team India faced Australia in the tournament’s
grand finale on Sunday. There were high expectations for Rohit’s Team India
going into the summit match at the Narendra Modi Stadium, especially after they
crushed a massive total against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final. But
Rohit and company did not perform well with the willow as the World Cup hosts
scored just 240 against Australia’s Pat Cummins in the championship match. The
Australians won the match handily thanks to a spectacular 137 from Travis Head.
In the low-scoring match at the biggest cricket
stadium in the world, Rohit and Co. failed to attack Australia’s
“non-regular bowlers,” according to batting icon Gavaskar, who was
reflecting on India’s batting display against the formidable Australian side.
Within the opening ten overs, captain Cummins introduced spinner Glenn Maxwell
into the assault, with seasoned Indian opener Rohit dominating Australian pace
spearheads Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the powerplay.
Australia’s risk paid off when Rohit was removed by
Maxwell for 47 off 31 balls while he was on song. Gavaskar stated that the
World Cup final’s pivotal moment came with the elimination of Indian captain
Rohit. In a match against the five-time victors, Rohit attempted to score a
speedy half-century, but Australia’s Travis Head pulled off an incredible
stunner.
“That could well be the turning point. Rohit Sharma
was looking so good. Again that’s the way he plays his game. I thought with a
six and a boundary – 10 runs already in that over. Maybe he should have not
gone for that shot. I know that if he had connected it and hit it for a six, we
all would have stood up and applauded it. But there was always that 5th bowler
that they could target. And there was no rush at that stage,” Gavaskar told
Star Sports.
After being reduced to 81-3 in the first 11 overs,
batting icon Virat Kohli (54) and KL Rahul (66) resurrected the Indian innings
with their gritty half-centuries. Rahul and Kohli also added 67 runs for the
fourth wicket to put up a fight in the rematch of the 2003 final.“This was the
partnership that steadied the innings but I still feel that they allowed the
non-regular bowlers to get away with not too many runs. Travis Head bowled two
overs for four overs, Mitchell Marsh again bowling two overs for not too many
runs. So I think those were the overs. I don’t think they should not have been
taking any risks but I think not taking even the singles certainly, those 20-30
runs which should have been come very handy. So we have 241 instead of
something 260,” Gavaskar explained.