Australian pacers were all over the Indian batters in the first innings as the Men In Blue were all out for 240 in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Opting to bowl first, Pat Cummins' side put on a masterclass with the ball as Mitchell Starc (3/55), Josh Hazlewood (2/60) and Pat Cummins (2/34) put a plug on Indian batters. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Fighting fifties from Virat Kohli (54) and KL Rahul (66) gave some hope to India as they were all out for 240 in a crunch game.
Here's a look at some of the key statistics from the first innings between India and Australia:
Indian batters ended the Cricket World Cup 2023 with 3028 runs - the second most runs amassed by any team and just behind England's 3059 in the 2019 edition.
Australian bowlers were top-class that they allowed only four boundaries from Team India in overs between 11-50. This is the joint-fewest by Rohit Sharma's side since July 2011.
Despite batters making merry in this World Cup, there have been some low-scoring games that were successfully defended.
230 Netherlands vs Bangladesh Kolkata
230 India vs England Lucknow
246 Netherlands vs South Africa Dharamsala
Australian wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis managed to scalp five dismissals today and has become the first ever to do so in a World Cup final. Team India were bowled out for a decent 240. It is the first time they have been all out. They came close to being dismissed against England in Lucknow.
Earlier, India lost the toss as Australia chose to bowl first in the mammoth final of the 2023 ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad. Rohit Sharma fielded the same playing XI as they did in the semi-final clash against New Zealand and the Pat Cummins-led Australians are also fielding the same team that they did in the semi-final against South Africa.
Rohit said he would have batted first if he had won the toss. Cummins cited dew as one of the reasons to bowl first as it could be a factor later on. The toss plays a key role in the final between two goliaths of world cricket.
However, in the last 12 World Cups, team that has won the toss has gone to win four times and teams that have lost the toss, have won 8 times. Most notably, India's success in the 1983 and 2011 saw them lose the toss in the two World Cup finals which they went onto win.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
