
Australia won the finals of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. The Pat Cummins-led side won the match by 6 wickets to lift the World Cup for the sixth time. Here is a recap of the second innings.
Australia lost 3 wickets in the powerplay
India was spot-on from the very first ball. David Warner faced the opening ball and, off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling, edged it between Virat Kohli at first slip and Shubman Gill at second slip. The opening over went for fifteen runs as Head hit two more fours in the over. Rohit Sharma surprised everyone by giving Mohammed Shami the second new ball rather than Mohammed Siraj. With his second ball of the game, Shami removed Warner and claimed a wicket in his opening over once more. Shami struggled to control the new ball, giving up five runs on five wides. Mitchell Marsh hit the first six of the innings in the fourth over.
Marsh was dismissed by Bumrah in the fifth over, precisely like he did at Chepauk. The sixth over resulted in a maiden wicket. Bumrah removed Australia’s former captain Steven Smith in his next over. Smith was released through LBW without checking the call. A review would have spared the fourth-place Australian, according to ball-tracking, which indicated that the hit was outside off. In the eighth over, Shami also bowled a maiden. There was a boundary off byes for the next over. Australia finished the powerplay with 60 runs scored at three wickets down and two fours in the final over.
Australia take control of the chase
Following the powerplay, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja entered the assault. Although some of the Australian squad was held off the surface by the spinners, they were unable to cause much harm. In five overs, Jadeja and Kuldeep gave up eighteen runs (11–15). In the 16th over, Head hammered Kuldeep for a six in an attempt to break some shackles. The onslaught was joined by Mohammed Siraj in the seventeenth over. In the eighteenth over, Kuldeep bowled a calm over for two runs. In the 21st over, Siraj got hit for a four. Head reached his fifty-seven in the twenty-second over. Siraj was replaced by Jadeja following a three-over stint. Shami came in to replace Kuldeep at the other end, and the first ball he faced was smashed for a four.
Head and Labuschagne found it easy to bat while Jadeja and Shami bowled in tandem and kept leaking runs. In three overs, Head and Labuschagne amassed 21 runs (25–27). After rejoining the attack in the 28th over, Bumrah was hit for three fours in his opening over. Bumrah nearly trapped Head in front of the stumps during the over, but Head was saved by the umpire’s call. In the 32nd over, Bumrah was replaced by Kuldeep. In the 34th over, Head hit Kuldeep for two straight fours and reached the nineties. In just 95 balls and one over, Head reached his century, hitting 14 fours and one six. On the first ball of the next over, he struck a six.
After Jadeja finished bowling his ten overs, Siraj took his spot. Head struck Siraj for a six in his opening over of the spell, resulting in nine runs from the over. In the next over, Head maintained his dominance by hitting another six off Kuldeep’s bowling. In the 40th over, Labuschagne reached his fifty with a four off 99 balls. Siraj dismissed Head in the 43rd over. Head scored 137 runs in 120 balls hitting 15 fours and four sixes.