ICC World Cup final: India score 240 runs against Australia

PTI

Ahmedabad, November 19

India struggled to score freely as they were all out for 240 against Australia in the World Cup final here on Sunday.

India skipper Rohit Sharma played another blinder before Australia bounced back in the game.

On expected lines, both teams did not make changes to their playing eleven.

On a slow and dry pitch, Australia put India in to bat, something Rohit Sharma wanted to do in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium.

Like he has done throughout the tournament, Rohit (47 off 31) took it upon himself to take the attacking route in the powerplay.

He had not succeeded in doing that in India’s league game against Australia but on the big stage, Rohit made sure he did not hold back against the world class pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlwood.

His onslaught began when he stepped out and creamed Hazlewood through the cover before collecting a streakish boundary over mid-wicket. In all, he hit three sixes and four boundaries.

Shubman Gill (4 off 7) perished while playing a short arm jab and Virat Kohli joined Rohit in the middle. Kohli struck three consecutive fours off Starc to maintain the momentum generated by Rohit.

However, Rohit fell to a spectacular running catch from Travis Head and an over later Pat Cummins had Shreyas Iyer caught behind to put the pressure on the hosts.

Two-time champions India have been the form team winning all 10 games to make the final against five-time winners Australia in the world's largest cricket stadium.

"Dew is one factor and it's quite dewy in the night at this venue," Cummins said explaining his decision.

"I'm really proud of the group. Tough start to the tournament but they haven't put a foot wrong since." Home captain Rohit Sharma said he would have preferred to bat first anyways.

"I would've batted first, big game and runs on the board," the opener said.

"It's the biggest occasion, in terms of cricketing events. We got to stay nice and calm." "It's a dream come true to captain the team in the final."

Teams:

Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (captain), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

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