India's dream of clinching their third ODI World Cup title came crashing down in the final of the World Cup 2023 as Australia routed the Men in Blue by six wickets in the summit clash. The Rohit Sharma-led side was considered the hot favourites to cross the final hurdle and win the silverware because of its dominant run throughout the course of the 50-over extravaganza.
In addition to that, there was a concrete reason for the Indian fans to believe that their side would pip the Kangaroos to win the World Cup. India had started their overwhelming run in the ten-team spectacle by getting the better of Australia while playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The margin of the victory was six wickets and hence the Indian team also carried the psychological advantage of having beaten Australia into the final battle. Rohit Sharma and his men didn't drop a single game throughout the course of the tournament and went undefeated into the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
From Virat Kohli to Mohammed Shami, India's star performers were in red-hot form leading into the finale against Australia which also supported the belief of 1.4 billion Indians. But it all went haywire on the day when it mattered the most as the two-time ODI World Cup winners got convincingly outplayed by the Pat Cummins-led side and lost the opportunity to end their 10-year-long drought of winning an ICC title.
India's batting couldn't deal with the relentless pressure that was applied by the Aussie fast-bowling cartel and failed to get a sizeable total on the scoreboard. Wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul has copped a lot of criticism for adopting an ultra-conservative approach as he scored 66 runs off 107 balls with just a single boundary.
Additionally, Ravindra Jadeja (9 off 22) and Suryakumar Yadav (18 off 28 balls) also failed to inject any momentum into India's run-rate which kept crawling at a snail's pace after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. They managed to post 240 on the board and Australia despite the initial hiccup, scaled the total down in the 43rd over with six wickets in hand.
With a wide range of emotions floating in the air following India's shocking defeat, we conducted a poll and asked our viewers and readers, "What led to India's defeat in the final of the tournament". The poll garnered 15658 votes and as per the results, a major chunk of people feel that the batters are the reason that cost India the game.
Who is responsible for Team India's defeat in the World Cup final?
Total votes: 15658
Batters: 62.23%
Bowlers: 8.78%
Fielders: 10.98%
Toss: 18.01
