IND vs AUS: Error in judgement or bad luck? Reasons why India lost World Cup 2023 final vs Australia

Add as a preferred source on Google

IND vs AUS: Rohit Sharma's dream, Rahul Dravid's dream, the dream of a billion Indians is over. The World Cup is not coming home and it's going far away Down Under with Australia who defeated hosts India by six wickets in the mega final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, November 19.

The Indian team played like a dream to win 10 matches on the trot and stay unbeaten, only to lose in front of over one lakh thirty thousand Indian fans at the world's largest cricket stadium.

There were fireworks all across the colossal stadium but only a handful of Australians present at the venue had a smile watching them. The Indians in the stadium gazed, but in oblivion. The wait for an ICC trophy would go on, the dream to bring back the ODI World Cup home will have to wait for another four years at least.

But before that, let this defeat sink in. Let's just have a look at the possible reasons why India lost the World Cup 2023 final against now six-time champions Australia.

Error in judgement: Pat Cummins won the toss and straightaway chose to bowl first. This came as a surprise for many. Even the majority of the experts before the toss had reckoned that batting first would be ideal.

Rohit Sharma himself admitted that he would have batted regardless. However, Pat Cummins' assessment of the pitch proved better. The pitch became easy to bat in the second innings. Boundaries were not at all easy in the first innings. Cummins knew that even if dew doesn't play a role, batting would be easy under lights.

Cummins had opted to bat first in their first match of the World Cup 2023 against India. He had observed that batting got easy under lights on the Chennai surface which was also slow in nature.

Ultra-defensive approach from Kohli and Rahul backfired: Just four boundaries in 40 overs either hints at Australia's dominance over India batters or the latter's ultra-defensive approach. India went into a shell after losing their first three wickets for 81 runs.

The star batting duo partnered for 67 runs but took 109 balls for it. They did not hit a single boundary for 97 consecutive deliveries. India scored 80 runs in the first 10 overs and 160 runs in the remaining 40 overs.

It would not be wrong to say that India batters did not explore their scoring options. They also did not take regular singles and doubles to keep the pressure away. Australia capitalised and just kept on tightening the noose over India.

Australia were also under pressure after getting three down for 47, but Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne partnered for 192 runs off just 215 balls.

Handling the pressure/nerves/excitement: South Africa have been called the perennial chokers for long, but India have surely given them a tough competition in the past 10 years. 2014 T20 World Cup final, 2055 ODI World Cup semi-final, 2016 T20 T20 World Cup semi-final, 2017 Champions Trophy final, 2019 World Cup semi-final, WTC final 2021 and 2023, and 2022 T20 World semi-final - India lost in each of these knockout matches.

First with the bat, and then with the ball - India succumbed to the pressure of the big moment. India bowlers also sprayed it all over the pitch in the first four overs in which they leaked 41 runs. Maintaining a tight line and length and cramping Australia for runs was the first job India should have done.

Rohit Sharma's wicket: There can be no complaints whatsoever from the great man. But in hindsight, he himself would think if he could have held himself back after already collecting 10 runs in the 10th over from Glenn Maxwell.

With three more balls remaining in the powerplay, Rohit Sharma looked to clear the boundary rope for the fourth time in his innings, but ended up giving a catch to Travis Head, the opener who played with the same approach but stayed in the middle for 137 runs off 120 balls.

The result could have been different had Rohit stayed in the middle for 10-15 overs more. His wicket was followed by Shreyas Iyer's departure and India could never bounce back in the match.

Sheer bad luck: India have been accused of playing bad cricket for '30 minutes' in the past to lose ICC knockout matches. This time, India was behind Australia for a good six hours.

A team which looked invincible, could not cross the final hurdle. Sometimes things are just not meant to be. Might be India were just unlucky. Had the magic delivery from Jasprit Bumrah cleaned Head's stumps in the powerplay, or had Head dropped Rohit's extremely difficult catch, or had Kohli not played on a delivery onto his stumps, India would have received the coveted trophy from PM Narendra Modi. But alas, the moment was not meant to be!

Australian fielding: Last but not the least, Pat Cummins field setting was impenetrable. He came with a plan and his fielders were on their toes throughout the fifty overs to stop at least 35 to 40 runs. There were all over the Narendra Modi Stadium - flying around just like dementors in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.