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Australia didn’t start as the overwhelming frontrunner
for the 2023 ODI World Cup. They suffered two significant losses at the start
of the season (against South Africa and India), had injury issues, and had
players who were out of form. Furthermore, the majority of their league stage
victories were not always convincing. However, skipper Pat Cummins was happy
that his team “saved the best for last” as they successfully won the
ODI World Cup trophy for the sixth time by defeating hosts India, who had not
lost in the competition till Sunday, by six wickets in the championship match.
“You’ve got to go and win a World Cup,” he
said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “You just can’t wait for it
to happen. And I think you got to be brave at times, you got to take the game
on. And it was a real shift after those first two games. With our batting
particularly, you saw the openers going out really aggressive and pretty much
didn’t waver from that for the rest of the tournament.
“Think we saved our best for last. And a couple
of big-match players stood up and, yeah, we’re pretty chuffed.”
Cummins attributed Australia’s comeback, in part, to
the aggressive play of their openers. Australia’s first-string batsmen had the
highest tournament average of any side at 47.86, and their strike rate of
111.19 was only surpassed by India’s 116.99.
Australia ran into difficulties in the final, trailing
241 by three points. In the second over, Mohammed Shami had dismissed David
Warner for seven runs, and Jasprit Bumrah had Mitchell Marsh caught behind for
fifteen. Steven Smith was soon out of the game as Bumrah pinned him in front
for four runs in the seventh over.
“I was one of those blokes with the hearts
fluttering upstairs, I was pacing [after 47 for 3],” Cummins said.
“Marnus walked in and out and a cool head straightaway. And Trav just does
what he does – really brave again, he takes the game on, puts the pressure back
on the bowlers. And to do it on the biggest stage shows a lot of
character.”