Final: India vs Australia at Ahmedabad, Nov 19, 2023
Australia won by 6 wickets
India 240/10 (50)
Australia 241/4 (43)
RR: 5.6
Last 12 Balls: 1 . . . . . | 2 4 1 1 W 2
Current Partnership: 0 runs, 0.1 overs, RR: 0 (Marnus Labuschagne, GJ Maxwell )
Last Wicket: Travis Head 137(122)
Pat Cummins | Australian skipper: I think we saved our best for last. We have been batting first pretty much for whole tournament and we thought it is a good night to chase down the target. Didn't really spin as much as we thought either. The boys were fantastic, we got an aging side and still everyone is throwing themselves on the field. We thought 300 might have been tough but achievable on that wicket, really chuffed with 240. Magnificent. Marnus with a cool head and Travis does what he does on the biggest stage, showed a lot of character. The selectors have backed him in and it is a big risk that we took and it paid off. I was pretty happy throughout the bowling innings. You look around and it is a special moment no matter whatever happened tonight. You gotta go and win the World Cup, you can't wait for it to happen. This year will be remembered for a long, long time and we had a lot of success over the winter and this one peaks it all. At the top of the mountain.
Rohit Sharma | Indian skipper: The result has not gone our way. We were not good enough today. We tried everything but it wasn't supposed to be. 20-30 runs more would have been good, KL and Kohli were stitching a good partnership and we were looking at 270-280 but we kept losing wickets. When you have 240 on the board, you want to take wickets but credit to Head and Labuschagne who stitched together a big partnership and put us completely out of the game. We tried everything we could but I feel wicket got slightly better to bat under lights. Don't want to give that as an excuse. We knew under lights it would be slightly better to bat, but don't want to give that as an excuse. We didn't put enough runs on the board. With the seamers upfront, we took those 3 wickets and another wicket there, we could open up the game. Credit to those two guys in the middle for stitching an outstanding partnership.
Virat Kohli, Player of the Tournament
Travis Head | Player of the Match : I never expected this, not in a million years, truly an exceptional day. Lot better than sitting on the couch at home. Really glad to contribute, the first twenty balls I played gave me a lot of confidence and yea I was able to carry through. The way Mitch Marsh came out and took the game on set the tone, we knew the wicket may get tough. Was a great decision to bowl first after winning the toss, it paid dividends. Nice to be a part of it and play a role in all of that. He’s (Rohit Sharma) probably the unluckiest man in the world now. Was great to hold on to that catch, who knows he could’ve probably got a hundred if not more. (On joining the list of centurions in WC finals) Nice list to join, nice to be here, nice to contribute. It’s going to be a nice couple of days, looking forward to it.
Mitchell Starc: He (Cummins) was phenomenal, he's been phenomenal all tournament in his decision making, his leadership. At times, he had to step up with the ball when it's been a bit flat. Capped off an unbelievable eight weeks for this group. I haven't got any words left. Between Pat, Ron (Andrew McDonald) and all our coaching staff, all our players across formats, it's been an incredible winter. I don't think you could write a script to top the win that we've had. To win a World Cup in India, it's been a fantastic eight weeks . Bloody successful and bloody enjoyable.
Steve Smith: Incredible feeling! The atmosphere was amazing today. Great performance from the team. The bowlers set the tone, fielding was great. Travis Head - the show he put on was incredible. Took the game on and Marnus played another unbelievable knock and played a great supporting role. Wasn't the ideal start for us (with bat) but we had the belief and we have got a good group of players. We had a poor start and then had to get into the top four - Australia typically plays well in those moments. It has been a pretty big year for us winning the Test championship and this. Yeah, it was pretty good fun.
