Before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, no one gave Australia a shout, as even some of the great Australian sides struggled in the subcontinent to get results. Australian cricket followers and experts opined that at most this team would qualify for the semifinals.
However, everyone forgot that domination in the ICC Cricket World Cup is in the blood of Aussies. What an interesting World Cup campaign for Australia it was! They started the tournament with two big losses and ended it as World Champions for a record sixth time by smashing the hot favourites India in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Australia not only won the match but won it by dominating India, who themselves won all 10 matches, dominating other sides before coming into this final. They won the match by six wickets, thanks to the heroics of Travis Head and some ruthless bowling and fielding from the whole team.
To be honest, no one expected this Australian side to win this World Cup. India was super amazing in this tournament. Almost all their players were 100% clear about their roles and delivered when it mattered, except for in the final.
Coming into this final, everything felt set up to help the home team win, which is really strange considering the fact that this Indian side was good enough to win by their own merit without much rumoured external help anyway.
However, Pat Cummins and Co. really silenced one hundred thousand fans inside the stadium and the whole 1.4 billion Indian fans with their grit and determination throughout the match. This current Australian side may not be the greatest if we compare them with the previous five World Cup-winning teams. However, it still has some extraordinary performers.
Pat Cummins has been immense with his leadership, field set-ups, tactics, bowling breakthroughs, and batting as well. Many were doubters of his captaincy prowess and wanted Smith to take over before the World Cup, but they all proved wrong. Adam Zampa was critical to Australia's success. The two games Australia lost at the beginning were mainly because he didn't play well. But then he stepped up his game, and so did Australia. Travis Head, the Adelaide lad, has been clutch in pressure moments, delivering MOTM performances in both the semifinal and the final.
This isn't the first time, though. He also crushed India in this year's WTC final earlier. Kudos to Australian management for not dropping him from the squad even when they knew he would miss half the tournament. Marnus Labuschagne is now part of the spine of this team. He is the one you turn to in order to build an innings. He is also probably the best fielder in the world right now, most notably highlighted by the superhuman boundary save he made in the final over against New Zealand during the group stage match.
David Warner and Mitch Marsh were also superb throughout the World Cup. The only negative for Australia in this World Cup has been Steve Smith, who was a big disappointment, which is very unlike him. Hopefully, he will also come back to form soon. Last but not least, Australia’s irrepressible pace bowling trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc have won everything there is to win, and they triumphed again in conditions designed to nullify them.
This World Cup triumph surely was one of Australia's finest sporting victories, and it shows again that when it comes to winning the Cricket World Cup, Australia just know how to get the job done.
