Cricket fans will know that on Sunday, the 19th of November, in the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, the 2023 World Cup Finals took place. It was tense even before the match had started – India, being undefeated throughout the season, faced off against Australia, who had stumbled in the early stages of the tournament, losing to both South Africa and, notably, India.
India, playing in front of a fervent home crowd, entered the finals as heavy favourites, having already bested Australia earlier in the competition. The odds were in their favour, but cricket has a way of defying predictions, it depends entirely on the then and now of the game. Australia emerged victorious, clinching the Cricket World Cup for 2023, winning by six wickets with 42 balls left.
For those who don’t know cricket, here is a quick rundown:
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- The bowler bowls the ball to the batter and tries to bowl them out by the ball hitting the wicket, or making the batter hit the stumps.
- There are only a set number of players allowed on the field at a time from the fielding team. There is the wicketkeeper, the bowler and nine other fielders (so 11 on).
- The batters will attempt to hit the ball being bowled to them, with the goal of hitting it far enough away that they have time to run to the other wicket. If the fielders throw the ball back to the wicket and hit it before the batters reach the other wicket, they will be out.
- Batters aim to get as many runs as possible without losing 10 wickets, hitting over the boundary at the edge of the field scores 6 runs, not on the full scores 4.
- Wickets can also be lost if the ball is caught on the full by the fielders.
Highlights from the Match
To watch some of the game Highlights, click on the link.
Didn’t get the chance to watch the game, or not all of it? Here’s a summary of the game.
For an over-by-over summary click the link.
Australia won the toss and decided to bowl, meaning that they would have to chase whatever score India managed to get. Four overs into the first innings, India is 30/0 having a run rate of 7.5 per over, with the opening batter and the captain for the Indian team, Rohit Sharma, hitting a few boundaries. Luckily for Australia, Starc bowls short to the other opener for India, Gill, who hits it for an easy catch to Zampa at mid-on. Kohli and Rohit, the current two batters in for India at this point and in the tenth over, the last over of the first powerplay, Maxwell bowls, Rohit hitting it up into what seems to be no-mans-land before Head takes the diving catch running back. An amazing catch.
Soon after, Cummins bowls a perfect outside-the-off-stump line, and Iyer edges him to Josh Ingis behind the stumps, causing Iyer to be out. India is at 81/3, and the stadium goes quiet. 20 overs in and India is at 115/3. Shortly after this Kohli reached 40 runs this inning, which brought up 1,500 runs in ODI (One Day Internationals) cricket this year. Just before 30 overs, Cummins bowls to Kohli, causing him to chip the ball onto his stumps, leaving him and the rest of the stadium, bare Australia, in silence. This is the Wicket that Australia needed, and at the end of the 30th over, India are 152/4. Shortly after, Hazelwood bowls out Jadeja, leaving India at 179/5 at 37 overs.
At the end of over 42, Starc having picked up the wicket of Rahul, from an edge that went straight to the keeper, India are on 207/6. The next few overs are one-off joy for Australia fans, with Starc
picking up his third wicket by getting out Shami, and Zampa getting Bumrah out with an LBW on his last over of the innings. Shortly following this, in the 48th over, Hazelwood takes the wicket of Yadav, leaving India at 226/9. Australia ended the innings with the final wicket of running out Kuldeep. Causing Australia to have to chase 241 in their 50 overs.
After the innings break, Australia started off strong with the first over scoring 15/0, but sadly after Shami took the new ball, Warner was out, and at the end of two overs, Australia was 28/1. Another wicket falls in the 6th over, Marsh getting out, the stadium loud in support of the dismissal, Australia at 42/2, needing 199 runs in the remaining 44 overs. Shortly after, Smith gets out, and India leaves Australia 47/3. At 17 overs over Australia is 93/3, and the players break for a drinks break, a light show entertaining the crowd.
At 30 overs, Australia are 170/3, causing India to panic. Head gets his century in the 34th over, Australia at 185/3. At 39 overs down, Australia are at 219/3, and India fans start leaving the stadium. Australia are at 239/3, and Head hits it hard trying to finish off the match, but hits it straight to a fielder, getting out. Australia quickly got the 2 runs they needed, Winning the match.
