Indian cricket team's dreams of ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 ended with a loss to Australia in the final on Sunday. Coming into the title clash, India were favourites as they had won 10 matches on the trot. But Australia saved their best for the last and won the match by six wickets. In what turned out to be a lopsided contest, this World Cup's best team India suffered their only bad day in the tournament, with their star-studded side not being able to make a strong impact.
Travis Head struck a stunning 137 after taking a crucial catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma earlier in the game to be Australia's anchor, while Marnus Labuschagne struck an unbeaten 58. Chasing 241 to win, Australia won with six wickets and seven overs to spare.
Several celebrities came to watch the match, including Bollywood actors Anushka Sharma and Athiya Shetty. Anushka Sharma is the wife of Virat Kohli while Athiya Shetty is the wife of Kl Rahul.
At one point in the game, the camera zoomed in on the duo. The commentators on Star Sports then started talking about the family members' superstitions.
"The family members have superstition. Till the time these two are playing they will sit at one place," said one of the commentators.
"Yahi main soch raha tha ki baat cricket ki ho rahi hogi ya phir films ki..kyunki cricket ke baare mein toh main jaanta nahi kitni samajh hogi." (This is what I was thinking if they are talking about cricket or films..Because I don't know how much they understand cricket)," said Harbhajan Singh in reply while doing commentary during the India vs Australia Cricket World Cup final on Sunday. This comment has come under fire on social media.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday admitted that his side was not good enough, especially as a batting unit, in the World Cup final against Australia. The Aussies bowled out India for a below-par 240 on a tricky pitch and then chased it down in 43 overs for a six-wicket win to bag a record sixth 50-over world title.
"The result hasn't gone our way and we know that we were not good enough on the day. But I am proud of the team. Honestly, 20-30 runs (more) would've been good. We didn't bat well enough,” said Rohit in the post-match presentation.
Rohit said the team was looking to score around 280 when Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were batting. Kohli and Rahul stitched together a rearguard stand for the fourth wicket to steady India after early blows.
“I thought when KL and Virat were batting, we were looking at 270-280 at that point but we kept losing wickets,” said Rohit.
With PTI inputs