World Cup Final: Emotional scenes at Narendra Modi Stadium as India lose to Australia; WATCH

Dealing with defeat was never going to be easy when you were overwhelming favourites to win. The same happened with Team India players on Sunday as they suffered a six-wicket defeat to Australia in the Cricket World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. For a team that stormed into the final with 10 wins from 10 matches, the final was very different from what they would have wanted it to be. World Cup 2023:  News  |  Schedule  |  Results  |  Points table India were asked to bat first on a slow track in Ahmedabad and despite a strong start with skipper Rohit Sharma slamming 47 off 31 balls, they only managed 240. This was chased down by Australia in 43 overs with Travis Head scoring 137. The crushing defeat took an emotional toll on Indian players who were visibly distraught by the setback. Pacer Mohammed Siraj broke down on the pitch of play and had to be consoled by fellow fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. Captain Rohit Sharma was seen taking a long emotional walk to the dressing room with disappointment written all over his face.

Later on, the 2011 World Cup winner and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was also seen consoling Indian players who were getting ready to collect their runners-up medals.

Sachin Tendulkar with the Indian team. pic.twitter.com/6JshYuzDsd

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 19, 2023

Rohit was pretty candid in his post-match talk as he admitted that India weren’t good enough on the day and lacked 20-30 runs. “I mean the result hasn’t gone our way and we know that we were not good enough on the day. But proud of the team. It wasn’t supposed to be,” Rohit said. “Honestly, 20-30 runs would’ve been good. I thought when KL and Virat were batting, we were looking at 270-280 at that point and we kept losing wickets. Australia stitched a big partnership after losing three wickets. With 240 on the board, we wanted early wickets but credit to Travis Head and Marnus,” Rohit, who has likely made his final appearance at cricket’s showpiece event, added.