RavinWhen it comes to finals, it helps to come prepared. For the favourites it reduces the odds of an upset, and for the underdogs it gives them a fighting chance against superior opposition. On a mild Sunday afternoon in Ahmedabad an Australian team deep inside hostile territory, came prepared to win at all costs and pulled off an unlikely victory against a dominant home side.
While most cricket matches are often smash and grab affairs, good tactics can level or even tilt the playing field. For Australian skipper Pat Cummins, it was a matter of eking out every advantage and rallying his team to commit fully to his leadership.
It began with the toss. Cummins winning and then opting to field raised more than a few eyebrows. It was the first inkling that Australia had done their homework and studied the prevailing conditions closely.
Still, there must have been more than a few nerves amongst the Australians facing the prospect of letting the Indians post an unassailable run total on the board.
With a lineup featuring hard hitters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, and a supporting cast that included the likes of Shubman Gil, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul, this was a formidable yet balanced Indian team that had trounced every opposition they had faced so far in the competition.
If the Australians were worried, it didn’t show. The team looked supremely confident and backed their captain’s decision to the hilt. In a high-quality fielding performance that will go down as one of the very best, the Australians in their yellow jerseys chased down every ball and made the Narendra Modi Stadium feel tiny and suffocating.
Pat Cummins’ thoughtful methodical approach to the game was in stark contrast to his opposite number, Rohit Sharma. The Indian captain entered the game aggressively and Rohit was briefly an embodiment of India’s prowess throughout the tournament, hitting boundaries left and right.
For a moment in the first few overs, it seemed like Cummins had miscalculated by choosing to field. The Indians had clearly planned to attack the aussie opening bowlers and stamp their authority on the game. However, while Rohit got off to a breezy start, his fellow opener Shubman Gil struggled to find a rhythm and was dismissed in the fourth over.
The calculus of a match changes when a wicket falls. As captain and top-order batsman, Rohit should have taken charge of steadying the ship and building up a strong run total. Instead he doubled down on his approach and found himself caught out in the ninth over. His wicket came after having scored two consecutive boundaries, showcasing the carelessness and lack of forethought that went into his game.
Rohit’s recklessness so early in the innings meant the burden fell on India’s Virat Kohli. To their credit, Virat and KL Rahul dug in and saved the blushes for India by ensuring that there was no collapse of the batting order. But this pressure, so unfairly placed on the two batsmen, played directly into Australia’s hands.
Suddenly, fielders were everywhere and even singles were hard to come by. Every ball went towards a waiting yellow jersey. It was combination of strategic placements and relentless fielding that boxed the Indians in. At several points in the match, the commentators quipped that it felt like the Australians had 15 men on the field. At times, it felt like more.
Sensing weakness, Cummins also opted to let loose his part-time bowlers early to save his best for the tail-end of the match. The gamble paid off as Kohli and company chose to play it safe, waiting for the right time to launch an attack that never came.
First Kohli then KL Rahul, the Indian batters were forced to leave the crease before they hit their stride. Rohit’s aggressive approach hadn’t worked, Kohli and Rahul’s patience hadn’t paid off.
Defending a run total of 240 requires an approach tailored to the occasion. Bowling has to be economical, while wickets have to fall with regularity. Batsmen have to be targeted. Fielding must be tight and threatening. Most importantly, heads and shoulders cannot drop.
India opened the bowling with gusto, as the swinging new ball pulled the Australian top order out of their comfort zone. Before eight overs had passed, three wickets had fallen and suddenly it all looked too possible for the Indians to claim an unlikely victory in front of their highly partisan crowd.
Then the swinging stopped. The fielding, which hadn’t been sharp to this point, became sloppy. Spinners Jadeja and Kuldeep lacked guile and cutting edge. Heads began to slump as Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne began to settle in.
The game was far from lost, yet the Indians had given up. Rohit Sharma, so belligerent in batting, looked lost in trying to restrict the aussie batsmen. He neglected to put in slips in favour of protecting the boundaries. Lethargic fielding was not chastised. Nervy bowlers were not calmed.
We can only speculate what might have happened if India and Rohit had taken a different approach in commandeering this final. Would they have walked away with the trophy? Or at least engineered a nail-biting fight to the end and pushed the Australians to their limit?
What we can take away is Pat Cummins’ superb leadership of an Australian team that is far from perfect. They tasted bitter defeat at the opening stages of the world cup and have only grown stronger.
Before the final, Cummins talked about silencing the 100,000 odd crowd in typified arrogance. But behind the veneer of cocksure bravado, there was a cricketer who had obsessed over playing conditions, demanded excellence from his teammates, and stayed alert throughout the innings to give his side the best possible odds for victory.
His team delivered the goods, and their intent and intensity throughout the match paid off to add another chapter in Australia’s pedigreed success at the very pinnacle of the sport.
For so long the discourse around cricket has revolved around bat and ball. Pat Cummins and his heroic Australian team has shown us once again that there is much much more to the sport. They deserve any and all plaudits sent their way.
For the Indians, a time of reflection needs to be at hand. They have the players, they have always had the players. But perhaps more can be done to improve mentality, match fitness, and tactics to give the team the edge they desperately need to get over the final yard. The disappointment of over a billion fans warrants a second look at their profligacy when it comes to the biggest stages of them all.
Ravin
