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Batting first, India scored 240 runs in the Cricket World Cup final. Pat Cummins won the toss and put India into bat first. Both teams did not make any changes to their playing 11s from the semi-finals. Here is a recap of the first innings.
Rohit goes big in powerplay, Australia takes two wickets
Early in the innings, Mitchell Starc, who opened the bowling, found some swing. Rohit Sharma attacked the Australian bowlers in the powerplay, performing as he always does. In the second over, the Indian captain hit two fours off Josh Hazlewood’s bowling. Rohit kept up his aggressive style in the fourth over, smashing a six and a four. Shubman Gill was dismissed by Starc in the fifth over, drawing the first blood. In that over, Rohit smacked another six.
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After only managing three runs off of his first eight balls, Virat Kohli hit three straight fours off Starc’s bowling in the seventh over. In the ninth over, Glenn Maxwell entered the attack in place of Hazlewood. The Australian all-rounder was hit for a four by Kohli. The Indian captain hit Maxwell for a four and a six in his next over. The Indian captain was expelled in the final over of the powerplay by Maxwell, who had the last laugh. The powerplay was ended with a four from Shreyas Iyer. India scored 80 runs at the end of the powerplay for the cost of two wickets.
Australia take control of the match
India lost two wickets in short succession after the powerplay when Cummins bowled his second over and removed Iyer. The onslaught was joined by Adam Zampa in the twelfth over. Zampa bowled in tandem with Cummins. Although they did not provide any easy runs, neither bowler seemed to bother Kohli or KL Rahul. Just 22 runs were scored in six overs (12–17) by Rahul and Kohli. In the eighteenth over, Maxwell returned to the attack for a one-over stint before Mitchell Marsh took his place. During this phase, Pat Cummins was rotating his bowlers, with Travis Head, Maxwell, and Marsh bowling some overs to reach the fifth over quota.
In the 26th over, Zampa returned to the attack. Kohli reached his fifth half-century in a row. In the 27th over, Rahul hit his first boundary of the partnership off of a bowling change from Maxwell. This limit was reached after 97 balls. In the 29th over, Cummins came in for Maxwell and had an immediate impact. With his third delivery of the spell, the Australian captain removed Kohli from the game. With four fours in 63 balls, Kohli scored 54 runs. It was not Suryakumar Yadav who walked into bat, but Ravindra Jadeja.
Australia again take quick wickets
After Kohli was removed from the game, the Indians were only able to score 16 runs in the following four overs (30–33). In the 34th over, Head returned to the offensive and found plenty of turn. Rahul scored just one four throughout his half-century in 86 balls in the 35th over. It took Hazlewood just a single over to replace Head once again. He had an impact in his first over of the period as he dismissed Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja used 21 balls to score nine runs.
Maxwell returned for a second term, giving up just one run in his opening over. Hazlewood also bowled a quiet over from the other end, scoring three runs. After just one over, Maxwell was replaced by Zampa. After more than 70 balls, Suryakumar hit his first boundary, ending Zampa’s over at 10 runs.
India has scored 197 runs with five wickets lost heading into the last ten overs. In the 42nd over, Starc returned to the attack and quickly had an impact, removing Rahul on the third ball. Rahul struck a single boundary while scoring 66 runs off of 107 balls. The second ball Mohammed Shami faced, he hit a four to start his account. His stay was short-lived as Starc removed the Indian pacer in his eighth over. Jasprit Bumrah was removed by Zampa in his last over.