[antz.bin]

Indians lost to the Australian preparation. They never gave India an inch.

Australians were clearly analytically better. They knew the exact strong points of all Indian batsmen and literally didn't let them score for the entire period from over #11 to #50. Heck Travis Head scored more 4s and more 6s than the 11 Indian batters put together.

India did manage to pull back 3 wickets early through brute force but they didn't trust their own analysts and messed up the bowling spells.

Siraj opened the bowling with Bumrah all tournament with varying levels of success but Shami got all his success bowling first change. They opened with Shami today to try and brute force wickets which worked somewhat but ended up leaving Siraj toothless. The spinners had to come into the attack too early and leaked runs. Runs that were in short supply.

Defensive field settings meant not having catching men and a couple of slip catches ended up in the boundary.

Truly it is a victory of the Aussie analysts vs India emotions. Goes to show that there is more to the team than the 11 blokes on the field.

[AtheK]

It's a slap on selectors face to continue with SKY match after match when he was the weakest in the lineup and he failed yet again when it mattered.

Siraj should have been dropped to play Ashwin today, but same old life long thought why change a winning combination overlooking horses for courses, look at Australia dropping stoinis when needed, sad to end up at losing side but Australia are worthy winners, congratulations to them.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by AtheK

It's a slap on selectors face to continue with SKY match after match when he was the weakest in the lineup and he failed yet again when it mattered.

Even Shreyas Iyer needs to be kicked out; enough of his batting supremacy against weak bowling attacks. It is a pity that there is no player like Labuschagne in our playing XI who can build innings.

[Thalla]

It has been a remarkable comeback by Australia after beaten in the first two games of the tournament. The return of Travis Head certainly made a great different in their overall performance. Today he again took a brilliant catch to get rid of dangerous looking Rohit Sharma and then he was outstanding with the bat once again.

[Shumi_21]

Our batters could only hit only one four from overs 11-40. Forget boundaries, we couldn't even rotate strike against part timers like Maxwell, Head and Marsh and ended up at least 40 runs short. Sure, the pitch was slow and the Australians executed their bowling plans well, but wasn't our middle more capable than managing only 4 boundaries and no sixes in the last 40 overs?

We fell into the trap of ultra conservative batting in a knockout game yet again. And that's precisely why this loss hurts so much. The play it safe strategy led us to danger and the fear of failure ironically brought us closer to it.

Can't even imagine how hard it would be for our standout performers like Rohit, Kohli & Shami, who had their last crack at a World Cup.

This Monday is going to be very tough and it's only just begun

[benbsb29]

A hard loss to swallow, but the signs were right there from the moment the teams walked out onto the field for the national anthems. Despite the enormity of the occasion, the Australian team looked confident and smiling. They had done their homework well in all areas, and it showed.

Decision to bowl first following the toss, fielding like your lives depended on it and not to forget bowling and field placements that were drawn down to each individual player - Goes to show how being prepared is key.

IMHO, i feel the Indian team allowed emotions to get the better of them and played to what they felt was right at the moment. In hindsight, we can find reasons and people to blame, but the truth of the matter is that on the day the Australian team came better prepared and executed their plans to precision, thereby ending up as deserving winners.

All due credit to the Indian team for their efforts, however yesterday was just not the day.

[fhdowntheline]

Our team never thought of a scenario where they would have to defend a weak total in the final. After the first 3 wickets, our bowlers lost the plot against Travis Head who just eviscerated the attack clinically.
Clearly a case of too much hype and hoopla. Even the pre-match commentary on Hotstar was all about the Indian "super stars" Rohit, Kohli, Shami etc. Not much discussion about Aussies at all.
And at the end of it all, when the Aussie team was holding up the trophy, the laser show at the background was depicting India. Evidently, the organizers also never thought of an alternate outcome.

[hdus001]

I think the Australian team had a few advantages:

- They were tested in several earlier rounds. They used these opportunities to identify and work on their weaknesses. In contrast, the Indian team won dominantly each time, so we never got to situations where the middle/tail absolutely had to perform or faced teams that didn't roll over to the bowling attack. We just didn't have any situations where grit and determination led to a win, and couldn't hone this aspect of the team.

- They had low weight of expectations. They could play freely, without the big fear of failure. In contrast, the Indian team was almost considered preordained to win and would have had enormous pressure on them.

- Many players in the Indian team are highly accomplished and hold many personal records. Basically a team of champions. However, I felt the Australian team gelled better as a team, and played their hearts out as a Champion team, to steal a phrase from elsewhere.

- Earlier failures meant they were underestimated a bit. This must've motivated them. They seemed to take great glee in silencing the crowd of blue.

- Some major luck at crucial times: Lots of lifes for Maxwell in the Afg match, then in the finals a bit of luck getting Kohli out, and Rohit/Gill out to not-so-great deliveries

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by hdus001

I think the Australian team had a few advantages:

- They were tested in several earlier rounds. They used these opportunities to identify and work on their weaknesses. In contrast, the Indian team won dominantly each time, so we never got to situations where the middle/tail absolutely had to perform or faced teams that didn't roll over to the bowling attack. We just didn't have any situations where grit and determination led to a win, and couldn't hone this aspect of the team.

- They had low weight of expectations. They could play freely, without the big fear of failure. In contrast, the Indian team was almost considered preordained to win and would have had enormous pressure on them.

- Many players in the Indian team are highly accomplished and hold many personal records. Basically a team of champions. However, I felt the Australian team gelled better as a team, and played their hearts out as a Champion team, to steal a phrase from elsewhere.

- Earlier failures meant they were underestimated a bit. This must've motivated them. They seemed to take great glee in silencing the crowd of blue.

- Some major luck at crucial times: Lots of lifes for Maxwell in the Afg match, then in the finals a bit of luck getting Kohli out, and Rohit/Gill out to not-so-great deliveries

What was also a bit disappointing was the Ahmedabad crowd. In a country besotted with the game itself, there were few cheers for the winners.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by hdus001

Some major luck at crucial times: Lots of lifes for Maxwell in the Afg match, then in the finals a bit of luck getting Kohli out, and Rohit/Gill out to not-so-great deliveries

It was not luck but poor shot selection by Gill & Rohit. Especially Rohit's dismissal was planned by bringing Maxwell within the 8th over with the field up and he giving some flight to the ball even after going for 10 runs in the previous 2 deliveries.

However, I know that such shots can go either ways and if Rohit had connected, we would be lauding his audacity and probably celebrating our 3rd WC Title.

Appreciate Cummin's captaincy throughout the Game and in the entire World Cup. He is different from the previous captains of Australia who were aggressive. Cummins was street smart and wise.

Now ICC has a headache of lowering popularity/interest in ODIs and the wider gap of Australian WC Titles with other playing nations. I don't think, now there will be much of efforts or inclination to build a team for the WC 2027.

[Oxy]

This reminded me of the 2012 home test series defeat to England, when we went great lengths to doctor the pitches in our favor, and Peitersen along with Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar ensured it backfired on us.

The moment I saw the pitch here, I knew this will backfire, and it did. Everytime we have made a conscious effort to make a slow pitch, it has mostly backfired. This was a very poor pitch for a world cup final. I really hope the groundsmen are taken to task as well.

[Joeboy]

Congratulations to the Aussies for Winning 2023 WC against a team that dominated till the final and on a slow turning pitch. Head and Manus played brilliantly and dominated the bowling as the match progressed. India looked to be a bit over confident and that led to its downfall and also the pitch chosen for a final was not good and it backfired on the Indians. Also India's batting was not tested much in the other games and when it happened in the final the others did not play well. India relied too much on Rohit and Kohli to score the bulk of the scoring.

[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Even Shreyas Iyer needs to be kicked out; enough of his batting supremacy against weak bowling attacks. It is a pity that there is no player like Labuschagne in our playing XI who can build innings.

You want to kick out somone who scored 530 runs at an average of 66 and a strike rate of 113 in the World Cup? Someone who hit a 70 ball 105 in a World Cup semi-final to take us into the final? Someone who came back from a debilitating back injury to perform this well?

I understand raw emotions after a loss but surely some thought needs to be applied?

[am1m]

The final was hard as an Indian fan, no doubt. But as a general fan of the ODI format and World Cup, I'm glad it was a sub-300 score that was at stake with some chance for both teams to slip up. 280 and it would have been a completely different match, a cliffhanger probably. But it is what it is.

Even as an Indian fan, if we're honest, not many were giving us much of a chance before the WC, so getting to the finals, that too in such a dominant fashion, is a great thing. The team really came together and played well. That's an amazing thing and an awesome achievement. Apart from persisting with SKY, I don't think we did anything wrong. The Aussies just strategized better, made better plans and played to them. I'd speculated earlier if that win against Afghanistan would galvanize them into going all the way. Getting tested during the league stage can have that effect. And the fielding! Wow! We've certainly gotten a LOT better than the Indian teams of old, but the Aussies are still in a different league. One area we need to get better. Also, the nature of any athletic event- on the day, things happen.

And obviously it's not the team's fault, but the hype was getting too much. Even on the day of a great SA-AUS semi-final, the headlines were about Kohli. Pretty unbalanced. (Again, obviously not Kohli's doing or fault.) But as fans I think most of us also started to believe that we just needed to show up and we'd be handed the trophy.

Result aside, this was an awesome world cup, rekindled some of the love I had for the format and the event. Like most people, I'm not sure how relevant the ODI format itself will be going forward, so these might be the last few great moments.

[ValarMorghulis]

All things said and done, India had an off day. Unfortunate it was the finals but it is what it is.

Kudos to Australia for proving why they are the toughest opposition in cricket. It takes guts to win the toss and bowl first in a WC Final against 130,000 strong crowd, against a batting line up which hadn't been dismissed in the entire tournament (until now). Cummins was exceptional in his captaincy. Indian team had a rare brain-fade.

Spare a thought for the Indian team. No one would be more dejected and crestfallen that those fighting and playing for their lives since the last 45 days.

This will probably be the last ODI World Cup as well for:
1. Rohit Sharma (36 yo)
2. R. Ashwin (37)
3. M. Shami (33)
4. R. Jadeja (35)
5. SKY (33)
6. Shardul Thakur (32)
7. V. Kohli (35) - unless he maintains his fitness and motivation

We can all slide and dice what went wrong but it wasn't our cup to be.
If only we had won the toss,
if only Gill could have kept his mind,
if only Rohit would have kept his cool after hitting a 6 and a 4,
if only Iyer did not get a peach of a bow,
if only Kohli scored another 100 (and caught Warner on the first ball),
if only Jadeja and Kuldeep could get some wickets (first time since 1979, Indian spinners have bowled more than 15 overs without taking a wicket in a WC ODI),
if only Siraj had bowled with some teeth,
if only this and that....


There will be time for a post mortem and analysis by the team management, but today isn't it. Let the team wallow in its loss and lick their wounds.
It wasn't simply meant to be.