The Indian cricket team captained by Rohit Sharma triumphed in every match en route to the World Cup final but fell short at the last hurdle. India was defeated by six wickets as a formidable Australian cricket side secured a sixth World Cup triumph, setting a new record. India’s ten-year drought for a significant ICC Trophy has persisted.
The captain of the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma, acknowledged that they were defeated by a superior squad following the Cricket World Cup final. “We were not pleased with the outcome. Today, we fell short of expectations. Despite our best efforts, it wasn’t meant to be. We were aiming at 270–280 runs after the match, but we kept losing wickets. Twenty–30 more runs would have been excellent,” Rohit Sharma stated after the game of World Cup Final.
“You want to take wickets when you have 240 on the board, but Head and Labuschagne deserve credit for taking us out of the game. However, I think it’s slightly better to bat under lights. I don’t want to use that as a justification. We did not score enough runs. I have to give those two guys in the middle credit for their excellent cooperation,” he continued.
With an unfathomable collapse that saw them lose by six wickets against an undefeated Australia here on Sunday, India’s hopes of capturing a third World Cup crown were shattered, sending the cricket-mad nation into deep sadness.
Australia thus extended its supremacy in the competition, which began back in 1975, by winning a record-breaking sixth World Cup victory.
Despite contributions from Rohit Sharma (47 off 31 balls), Virat Kohli (54 off 63), and K L Rahul (66 off 107), India’s innings-low total of 240 came from batting.
Similar to his June WTC final performance against India, Travis Head struck a match-winning 137 off 120 balls to help Australia reach the goal in 43 overs.
Australia lost three wickets for 47 runs, raising Indian hopes, but Head and Marnus Labuschagne’s 192-run partnership (58 not out) ended the opposition’s chances.
Australia’s resounding victory was also greatly aided by their outstanding fielding and bowling. Batting was also made simpler by the evening dew on a sluggish, dry surface.
India, who had won ten straight games and were the only team still undefeated coming into the championship, crumbled at the last hurdle. Their final world championship was won back in 2011, and their final ICC trophy was won in 2013 with the Champions Trophy.
Over the past ten years, India has lost in the World T20 final in 2014, the World T20 semifinal in 2016, the Champions Trophy final in 2017, the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal in 2019, the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal in 2022, and the World Test Championship cycle in 2021 and 2023, in which they finished as runners-up.
