World Cup 2023 Final: Australia clinch record sixth title with six-wicket win over India

Australia were crowned world champions for a record sixth time when they defeated India by six wickets in the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

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Chasing a total of 241, the Aussies lost quick wickets in the powerplay but centurion Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne forged a 192-run stand to take the Aussies home with 42 balls to spare.

For India, this defeat was bright back the ghosts of their 2003 World Cup defeat to Australia.

Australia lost David Warner in just the second over when Mohammed Shami struck with his dismissal, and just three overs later in the fifth over, Jasprit Bumrah struck with a short ball to Mitchell Marsh, only for Marsh to get an edge and gift the opportunity to KL Rahul.

Bumrah struck again in the eighth over with an LBW dismissal of Steve Smith. Smith was dismissed for just four runs off nine balls, but he could have been not out had he opted for the review.

Replays and ball-tracking showed that the impact of the ball was outside the line of the off stump. However, Smith decided against the review and made the long walk back.

Australia were 47/3 at one stage, but Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne took centre-stage and all of a sudden things were going right for Australia.

Head and Labuschagne kept disturbing the Indian pacers. While Marnus took a more defensive approach, Head took on spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja with open arms. One of the major highlights of Head’s innings came in the 16th over, when he nailed a slog sweep off Kuldeep Yadav to amass a maximum.

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And from then on, to watch Head take on India’ss spin duo was a treat to watch for Australia fans. Head would go onto get to his fifty off 58 balls, with a single that was driven towards sweeper cover. He would continue going for the big ones, mainly targeting the spinners apart from Siraj and Bumrah and reached his century in 95 balls with a single that was pushed into the covers.

The Men in Blue had no answers to break this partnership. Especially the spinners, who struggled on a slow surface at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Head had also played an impactful role in the semi-final against South Africa in Kolkata, where he scored a knock of 62 and his century on Sunday was the latest chapter in his redemption arc, having only returned from injury in October during a game against New Zealand in Dharamsala.

Labuschagne, meanwhile, played the perfect role of supporting Head. He would take 99 deliveries to reach his fifty, only scoring three fours, but for the Aussies chasing a modest total of 241 with wickets to spare that kind of an innings was enough.

Australia, however, lost Travis Head in the 43rd over with just two runs away from victory. Facing a short ball from Siraj, Head went for the pull but found Shubman Gill at deep midwicket.

Glenn Maxwell was the next batter in and would finish things off with a brace, swatting towards the deep midwicket boundary, where the fielder fumbled a bit that allowed Maxwell to complete the second run.

Earlier, India were dismissed for just 241 runs after the pace trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc combined to take seven wickets.

Rohit Sharma got India off to a positive start with a brisk knock of 47 off 31 deliveries, but was dismissed in the 10th over after miscuing a shot towards mid-on, where Head took the catch.

In came Shreyas Iyer at four after India were two down, and he joined Virat Kohli in the middle, but was dismissed for just four runs.

Kohli, however, would go onto forge a 67-run stand with KL Rahul (66) for the fourth wicket, albeit for more than 15 overs, the boundaries had dried up. Rahul finally brought up India’s first boundary in more than 90- deliveries in the 27th over, guiding towards fine leg fence.

It wasn’t soon after this when India lost the wicket of Kohli, who was cleaned up by Cummins for 54 in the 29th over. India had lost some momentum following Kohli’s wicket, but even though Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja (9) looked to steady the ship, there was hardly any significant contribution from Jadeja.

India were 178/5 once Jadeja was dismissed in the 36th over, and Rahul’s wicket in the 42nd over did not help their case either. Suryakumar Yadav (18) failed to convert another start, while Kuldeep Yadav (10) and Mohammed Siraj (9*) took the innings deep, but India’s total still fell below the 250-260-run mark.

Siraj did collect a boundary in the last over, smashing straight through mid-off, but the total for India proved to be quite comfortable for the Aussies to chase it down despite a few early hiccups.