Travis Head sure caught it when he ran back from the cover, dived, and held on to send the Indian captain Rohit Sharma back in the 10th over in the 2023 final. Glenn Maxwell knew what that moment meant, and he didn’t hide it. In an otherwise situation, it might just have been Rohit doing what he does best – making the most of the powerplay. But a World Cup final is a situation like no other. And Australia, especially when it is a World Cup final, is an opposition like no other. What if he had held himself back for that ball? What if he had just played five more overs?
Permutation, combination, and utter disintegration of the opposition. Haven’t the men from Down Under always been such know-alls of the cricket world! Just ask South Africa, their opposition from the penultimate match. Or the Indian squad from 2003. For, this one also brought back the feeling of ‘all is lost’. The feeling that a whole nation was familiar with – whenever Sachin Tendulkar walked back to the pavilion early (happened in 2003 final too).
Pat Cummins might have saved the 1.4 billion a collective sigh when he won the toss but chose to bowl. The infallible batting of the Men in Blue, the likes of Sharma and Virat Kohli being feared in the bowling circles, no less – capable of winning it all single-handedly, the sheer perfection of the team in the tournament so far… Everything seemed to be pointing at a Sunday party.
If only!Sport, after all, needs its adjectives – tear-jerker, edge-of-the-seat, nailbiting, et al.And, Cummins was just too eager for his “there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent”. It seemed there was nothing he could do wrong this day. Be it the field setting, the rotation of the bowlers, ensuring the pressure was always on India, or ultimately showing all what the quiet of a lakh-plus crowd sounds like (when he bowled Kohli off the proceedings), he was embodying the spirit of a true Aussie skipper. Hardly gave an inch throughout the Indian innings. His men too. They once again showcased what Australian fielding was all about. The frustration the Indian bats would have felt on the number of sure shot boundaries just being negated by the sheer do-or-die Aussie will. Didn’t David Warner seem to be omnipresent? At the cover, on the boundary; wherever the hosts hit there was an Australian present.
If Australians were the lesson in ‘what to do in a World Cup final’, the Indians showed all ‘what not to do in a World Cup final’. How to hold nerves – by Pat Cummins & Co. While the likes of Subhman Gill and Shreyas Iyer looked to have misplaced their Batting 101 book, Mitchell Starc and Cummins did send them back with a Bowling 101. Remember the Indian age-old idiom of ‘doobte ko tinke ka sahara’? The Indian supporters did. Even the last over boundary from Mohammad Siraj was treated as an occasion to rejoice. For, there had been few – mere four in the last 40 overs as compared to 12 in the first 10. The hopes of a billion-plus still said 240 was a fighting total in a final. The Indian bowlers just might… But when had Indian triumphant tunes been played due to the bowling prowess under pressure? With a big total to defend, the script is different. This was 240! What if Australia had batted first rather? India might have repeated the Chennai script. But it was, after all, a story of what ifs for India.
What if the real Kohli had turned up for the match? The one who had been inspiring soliloquys with his records, the one who had made Aussie bowlers check their tongues, and the one who had the biggest share of this tournament limelight to himself. What if Indian tail had got just a tad more batting practice in the previous matches? What if India had solved its No. 4 mystery well in time?
Or the biggest of all – what if Sharma had just taken a leaf out of a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s book and made his wicket count when it mattered the most? Well, the 2011 World Cup winning skipper was not called ‘Captain Cool’ without a reason. What if Kohli or Gill had taken Warner off the very first ball rather than letting it race to the boundary from between them? Slips! They were fielding at slips.
And then there were those futile dives against the Aussie boundaries. The Indian fielding speciality! The Aussie dominance reared its Head again when despite losing three quick ones, they didn’t lose momentum like their opposition did. They were 47/3, courtesy Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami’s bid to fight. But when it comes to Australia, nerves are a no go. Had always been. Except the mighty West Indians of Clive Lloyd in 1975 and that Sri Lankan bunch that changed the cricket totals in 1996, no one had been able to get the better of them in the ultimate round. For, not letting all the efforts go in vain at the finishing line is Australia 101.
Ably aided by Marnus Labuschagne, Head ensured he had indeed caught the World Cup.