India vs Australia, World Cup 2023: Two contrasting 4th wicket partnerships dictate the Final

Australia have won their sixth World Cup title with a convincing win over India in the final of the World Cup 2023.

It has proven to be a damp encounter for the hosts who fell short miserably in yet another ICC final against the Aussies. Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, won the toss and things happened as he planned.

After a decent start from India captain Rohit Sharma, Aussies pulled things back and bundled India out for just 240 runs. And in the run chase, despite some early troubles, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne steered them towards their World Cup title with a magnificent partnership.

But it was two 4th wicket partnerships for two teams which have played a pivotal part in the outcome of this final. In India's case, it has come back to bite them while Australia capitalized with their vital partnership.

India's 4th wicket partnership

The conditions at the Narendra Modi Stadium was difficult. The deck was slow and ball was stopping during the India inning. But India's 4th wicket partnership kind of slothed the pace of their entire inning.

India were 82 for 3 in 10.2 overs when KL Rahul and Virat Kohli commenced their partnership. And from there, they could only add 67 runs in the next 109 balls, a slow partnership which has been lamented by many.

It was ambiguous between Kohli and Rahul as none of the batters took on any aggressive role during their partnership. Both of the players struggled to find the boundaries, and they even failed to rotate the strike that much. In the entire partnership, there was only a solitary boundary which was scored off KL Rahul's bat.

Kohli scored 54 off 63 balls, whereas KL Rahul managed to grind out 66 runs off 107 balls.

Australia's 4th wicket partnership

The Aussie duo Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne had other plans. They were 47 for 3 when the pair started their partnership. And credit has to be given to them for keeping their shape amid the cauldron. Although more than a hundred thousand voices were cheering for India, Head managed to ride on the early tide and then capitalized on that.

Head took on the aggressive role then and dismantled the Indian bowlers. The elite Indian bowling lineup was bamboozled as the southpaw dismantled them with some terrific batting. The level of intent from the Aussie batters was admirable, which has proven to be the telling factor in the outcome. The duo added 192 runs for Australia's 4th wicket.

Travis Head also became only the 2nd player to score a World Cup Final hundred in a run-chase as the men from down under lift their record sixth title.