In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Final, Australian captain Pat Cummins made the unexpected choice to field first against India, which caused controversy and skepticism among past captains Allan Border and others.
According to Border, at first he doubted the choice and believed Cummins had “lost the plot.” On a pitch that was meant to be dry, Pat Cummins’ risk paid off as the Australian bowlers dominated, restricting India to 240 runs. Even with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul scoring fifty runs apiece and Rohit Sharma batting with fury, Australia won the second half of the match thanks to the dew effect.
Australia easily won their sixth World Cup thanks to the collaboration of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne in the chase. Border complimented Pat Cummins, noting the captain’s development as a leader and his claim to have made the team his own.
The World Cup final saw one of the bravest decisions I have ever seen from a cricket captain: Pat Cummins’ “bowl first” order. To be very honest, I thought, “Oh no, Patrick, you have lost the plot, you blokes,” when I heard him add, “We will bowl.” I wondered, “What are we doing?” when Rohit Sharma started to play aggressively early. “Oh my god, the decision to bowl first has just backfired,” Border stated in an interview with Fox Sports during the first six to ten overs.
We made every effort, but it wasn’t meant to be, says Rohit Sharma
When looking back on the game, Indian captain Rohit Sharma said that his team was short by 20 to 30 runs and that Head and Labuschagne’s strong partnership was what ultimately won the game for India. He also mentioned that batting under lights improved the wicket a little. He insisted that they didn’t put enough runs on the board and refused to use the loss as an excuse.
“We were not pleased with the outcome. Today, we fell short of expectations. Despite our best efforts, it wasn’t meant to be. An additional 20–30 runs would have been beneficial; KL and Kohli were forming a strong combination, and we were on track to reach 270–280, but we kept losing wickets. When you’re up 240 runs, you want to take wickets, but Head and Labuschagne deserve recognition for their strong partnership, which shut us out of the game,” Rohit remarked.
“We don’t want to use the fact that it would be marginally better to bat under lights as an excuse, but we were aware of it. We didn’t score enough runs. We were able to open the game by taking three wickets with the seamers up front and another wicket there. Praise be to the two individuals in the center for securing a fantastic alliance,” he continued.
India
