Australia on Sunday won a record-extending sixth 50-overs World Cup title by defeating hosts and title favorites India by six wickets in the final at a packed Narendra Modi Stadium. Chasing a modest 241 for victory thanks to their brilliant bowling display after they had asked Rohit Sharma’s team to bat first, Australia reached their target in 43 overs to snap India’s 10-match winning streak at the tournament.
Opener Travis Head hit a sparkling 137 to power Australia to a record-extending sixth World Cup title with a convincing six-wicket win over India in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Head’s knock and his marathon stand of 192 with Marnus Labuschagne, unbeaten on 58, ended India’s dominant run of 10 unbeaten matches at the event.
Head fell after his 120-ball knock laced with 15 fours and four sixes before Glenn Maxwell hit the winning runs to trigger wild celebrations in the Aussie camp.
India’s chances of ending a global trophy drought since their 2013 Champions Trophy win went up in smoke once Head got going with Labuschagne.
Australia won the toss and elected to field first, restricting India to a subpar 240 all-out – with Virat Kohli (54) and KL Rahul (66) scoring half-centuries for India.
Australia suffered a top-order wobble, but Head’s 137 off 120 balls saw them romp home with seven overs to spare.
It was India’s first defeat of the tournament after they had won all 10 of their previous matches. Australia came into the final on an eight-game winning streak but had lost the group encounter with India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Richard Marles, who is the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia were invited onto the stage to present the famous World Cup trophy to Australian skipper Cummins.
After handing over the World Cup trophy to Cummins, PM Modi congratulated the entire Australian side to conclude the presentation ceremony at the ODI World Cup.
“I think we saved our best for last. We have been batting first pretty much for the whole tournament and we thought it was 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,” Pat Cummins, the Australian skipper said at the presentation ceremony.
