19 November 2023: When Australia shattered the dream of every Indian cricket fan
19th November 2023, the day that broke the heart of every Indian cricket fan and brought tears to everyone's eyes. On this day the final of the ICC ODI World Cup was played between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The 2023 World Cup was very special for India because that tournament was held on their home soil. The Indian team reached the World Cup final by winning all 9 matches of the group stage. Every Indian fan was hopeful that after a decade, an ICC trophy would finally come home, but fate had other plans.
The 12-year wait to win the World Cup title on that was shattered by the Australian side. In the final match, Australia defeated the Indian team by 6 wickets and shattered Rohit's dream of becoming the champion of the platoon.
Team India, which showed a great performances in the entire tournament, looked completely colourless in the title match. Let us tell you what happened in that match and due to which mistakes India could not win this match. The first mistake was in that entire tournament, Team India was given a strong start by the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in every match. However, the pair of Rohit and Gill could not built a long partnership in the Final.
The Hitman scored a couple of runs, but Shubman returned to the pavilion after scoring just 4 runs. After Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned to the pavilion, the middle order of the Indian team faltered badly in the final. KL Rahul stood with one end intact, but he could not get the support of any batsman. Shreyas Iyer scored just 4 runs, then Jadeja also scored only 9 runs. Suryakumar Yadav also disappointed with the bat in the title match.
Like the semi-finals, the Indian team had great expectations from Mohammed Shami in the final itself. However, Shami could not live up to expectations in the title match. The Indian fast bowler gave 47 runs in his 7-over spell and got only one wicket in his bag. In the World Cup 2023, India's spinners were burning in the middle overs. In the title match, captain Rohit Sharma was expected to perform strongly once again with the pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
However, neither Kuldeep's spin magic nor Jadeja could perform well against the Kangaroo team. Kuldeep-Jadeja together plundered 99 runs in their 20 overs and could not take only a single wicket. In the final match, Indian bowlers looked completely colorless. Bumrah and Shami gave quick three breaks in the beginning, but after that the Indian bowlers were seen craving the wicket in the entire match.
Team India's bowlers failed to break the 191-run partnership between Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, which led to Team India losing in the title match. But the hearts that were broken on that day were healed again on the 29th, the day India won the T20 World Cup and brought an ICC trophy home after 11 years.