World Cup Final: Timid batting, overcharged bowling ruin India’s campaign against Australia

As Glenn Maxwell came racing back for the second, winning run, KL Rahul slumped to his knees behind the stumps, burying his face in his wicket-keeping gloves. Mohammed Siraj, off whose bowling Maxwell had scored the brace, wept openly, the tears streaming down his bearded cheeks, not even Jasprit Bumrah’s consoling hugs and words making an impact. Rohit Sharma, head bowed, tried his best to hide his eyes, glistening and providing a window to his emotional state.

Kohli's Sachin moment

A few minutes later, Virat Kohli walked up to receive the Player of the Tournament award from Roger Binny, the BCCI president and one of the heroes of the 1983 World Cup victory, not even a hint of a put-on smile on his face. Standing next to Binny was Sachin Tendulkar, who must have known what Kohli was going through. Twenty years back, Tendulkar was the Player of the Tournament when India conceded the World Cup final to Australia in Johannesburg. It was Kohli’s turn to receive a personal honour, however celebratory, in a moment of collective grief, his and his buddies’ hopes buried by the scything broadsword that doubled up as Travis Head’s bat.

India’s exhilarating, entertaining run at the World Cup didn’t wind to its logical denouement. There was no fairytale finish to a rip-roaring journey of unprecedented highs, no popular home win to lift the spirits of millions who had hoped to live their dreams through 15 young men who had put heart and soul and body into a remarkable campaign of several highs and one heartbreaking low. These men deserved better, of course, but who is to say that Australia didn’t deserve the title?

How Australia turned the tables

Rohit’s men had done little wrong for the first 10 games, sweeping aside all before them with an authority few teams have showcased in previous World Cups. Among their victims were Australia, battered by six wickets in Chennai on October 8. On that occasion, it was Australia who wore a beaten look for most of the game, looking nowhere near the majestic side that had secured five World Cup titles. On Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the shoe was on the other foot, the hunter of six weeks back now the hunted.

Precious little went right for the hosts in front of nearly 100,000 expectant fans at the world’s largest cricket stadium, starting with the toss. Rohit’s continued adherence to his commitment to aggression thrilled the audience no end initially, but once the skipper fell to a supreme piece of athleticism from Head, the wheels came off the Indian batting.

This was the unit that had topped 300 in each of its four preceding outings; among those totals was 410 (against Netherlands) and 397 (against New Zealand in the semis). On Sunday, even 250 proved elusive. The conditions might have played a part – a sluggish surface, a ball that discouraged strokeplay once it lost its hardness, a bit of reverse swing exploited superbly by Mitchell Starc and Jost Hazlewood – but India sold themselves short, first with the bat and then with the ball.

For a side that smashed 37 fours and 16 sixes against the Dutch in Bengaluru exactly a week back, India had only 13 fours and three sixes in their 50 overs against the Aussies. Nine of those fours and all the sixes came in the first 10 overs when Rohit went on the rampage, taking a special liking to Hazlewood. A mere four fours were struck in the last 40 overs – a boundary every 60 balls, if you like – which suggested a certain timidity that was against their grain.

India’s batting limp, bowling too overcharged

That timidity, however, was an enforced one, not an unforced entity. Australia were blemishless with the ball and outstanding in the field, headlined by Head’s special catch and the 37-year-old David Warner’s electric ground fielding. Every cog in their bowling wheel was well-oiled, role-clear and impeccable in execution. India’s batting was limp and bereft of enterprise, an offshoot of the loss of wickets at inopportune moments that forced them into consolidation rather than aggression.

With the ball, India were probably a little too charged-up for their own good. For reasons best known to him, Rohit tossed the ball for the second over to Mohammed Shami, who has had great success coming first-change behind Bumrah and Siraj. The latter is the No. 2-ranked ODI bowler in the world and has taken more wickets in the first Powerplay than any bowler in the world in the last 20-odd months, while Shami is more at home when the ball isn’t at its shiniest, potentially slipperiest best. The second sign that India were feeling the heat became evident at that moment.

The first sign that this wasn’t destined to be India’s night came in the first over of Australia’s chase of 241. Coming into the final, Bumrah’s economy rate hovered around the four-mark. But his first over yielded 15, including two gorgeous drives through the covers by Head. There was stunned silence at the impunity with which the intrepid Head had gone after the hometown hero. How dare you, the 100,000 pleaded, silently.

The next over, from Shami, was a mixed bag. A wide ball, then the wicket of Warner with another widish ball that the batsman could have left alone. But just like Bumrah and unlike in previous matches, this wasn’t a Shami that threatened a wicket every time he thundered in. Something was off, and it wasn’t just his accuracy. The runs came furiously, and while Bumrah did pluck out Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith (fortuitously) in quick succession, one could sense that this wasn’t India at their best.

Siraj, the demolition man with the new ball, wasn’t brought on until the 17th over, by which time neither Ravindra Jadeja nor Kuldeep Yadav had made an impression. True, the surface had shed its sluggishness under the lights and the ball was coming on a lot better to the bat, but that was no defence for the lack of purpose to the Indian bowling.

Alongside the sensible Marnus Labuschagne, Head pushed India to a corner by counter-punching after a period of consolidation. India hardly responded, swaying like a punch-drunk boxer waiting for the referee to step in and stop the contest. Long before the final bell sounded, India had as good as thrown in the towel, their downcast faces and sagging shoulders giving the game away. A sad end to a campaign that promised so, so much, but ended in familiar disappointment.