Marnus Labuschagne has decided to retire the bat he used against India in the final of the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The star Aussie batter took to his social media accounts to give an update on the bat and shared its images.
The meat of the blade looks badly damaged and doesn't seem that it can take any further strain. "Think it’s finally time to retire the World Cup final bat," Labuschagne posted on X and Instagram.
Notably, the right-handed batter had played a significant hand in guiding Australia to victory in the summit clash in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium. Chasing 241 to win in 50 overs, Australia were in a spot of bother at 47 for the loss of three wickets in seven overs. With David Warner, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh back in the hutch, the onus fell on the shoulders of Travis Head and Labuschagne.
Labuschagne scored a dogged half-century as he wearied the Indian bowlers down. He concentrated on rotating the strike rather than taking the Indian bowlers on and scored four boundaries. Labuschagne's knock came at a strike rate of 52.72 but it didn't matter as Australia had the asking rate within their grasp due to Head's counter-attacking effort.
Head scored a match-winning century (137 off 120 balls) and hammered 15 fours and four maximums at a strike rate of 114.16. Though Head got out in the 43rd over, his wicket didn't make any difference as the game had already slipped away from India's hands by then.
Head was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) for his match-defining knock and to a certain extent it overshadowed Labuschagne's measured knock. Australia reaped the rewards of the 192-run stand between Labuschagne and Head and won the final by six wickets.
