Why did India lose the World Cup Final?

It was written in the stars. The energy surrounding the team was overwhelmingly positive. A crowd of 100,000 were supporting the team, applauding, cheering every boundary hit and magnifying every appeal from the bowler 100 fold. The team itself was performing brilliantly and appeared invincible. Until they came up against Australia in the final at Ahmedabad and batted first. I was one of the millions watching the match on the 19th of November.

The start to the Indian innings was as impressive as it has been all tournament long. Rohit Sharma was scintillating in his attack, even in the face of the brilliant bowling from Australia, so much so that the fast bowling duo who had bowled about 12 overs non-stop against South Africa in the semi-final a couple of days earlier, had to be pulled out of the attack. Shubman Gill disappointed in going for his aerial shot across the line so early on but then, who can blame him when that is the way he has been playing all along and successfully, at that. Anyway, the understated brilliance of Travis Head came to the fore early when he caught Rohit Sharma running back from the cover area. It was an excellent catch. That was an example of the ground fielding of Australia which was at a high level. They were unbelievable, saving at least some 30-40 runs through the innings with their efforts. It was telling that later Rahul Dravid said it was a 280-290 run pitch. Those boundaries that David Warner, Marcus Labuschagne and even Pat Cummins saved meant that the score was not 280-290, but just 240. Fielding was one of the reasons that Australia won. What were some others?

The pitch and the area surrounding it was conducive to bowling in the afternoon. The fact that KL Rahul and Virat Kohli couldn’t even get Travis Head away in the 2 overs he bowled says something. R Ashwin spoke of Pat Cummins’ execution in bowling off cutters for his 10 over spell. It was a testament to how well the Aussies read the pitch and decided on the lengths and lines to bowl to the Indians. They had a plan for every player and executed it perfectly. Of course, KL and Virat _coulda_ attacked more. Easy for us to say sitting in the comfort of our living rooms. Still, one felt that a chance or two could have been taken to shift the pressure back on the Aussies. It was not to be. Instead, the ball started reversing after the 30th over. Once that happened, it became harder to bat. It is easy to forget that the poor Pakistanis were at the receiving end of a similar outing against India about a month earlier. Babar and Rizwan were going quite well when Bumrah came back and got Rizwan out to a “beauty”. Mitchell Starc bowled one such “beauty” to KL Rahul which swung reverse. Pakistan could must up a below par 190 odd runs in their first innings. We were all willing to overlook the difficult nature of the pitch and conditions back then in favour of India’s excellence. Now that the Indian team was on the receiving end, we were not too impressed with the Aussies, were we? I also thought that it was an interesting decision to send R Jadeja out to bat ahead of Suryakumar Yadav. Obviously Rohit thought there was something Jadeja could do that SKY couldn’t or wasn’t suited to, at the 30th over mark of the innings. Either way, when SKY did get his chance at the crease, the Aussies had a brilliant game plan for him. Third man was placed very fine so that SKY’s favourite ramp shot which would normally fetch him a boundary was reduced to a single. Slow bouncers seemed to be his undoing and he succumbed to one such slow bouncer that he gloved through to the keeper. I thought that was another turning point in the match. India did fight though. The lower order fought through till the 50th over, ensuring that it was all utilised, getting the team to 240. It could have been good enough, but it wasn’t to be.

Again, the Aussies knew that the pitch would get easier to bat on. I somehow thought that India did not have concrete, individual plans on where to bowl to Travis Head and any of the Aussie batters. It appeared as if India was content to rely on the capabilities of the bowlers to take wickets thanks to their skill. For a while, it appeared that that skill would take the team through again, but it was not to be. Head played very well and Labuschagne supported him aptly. But the hard yards were done in winning the toss, fielding first and executing brilliantly on the tactics that the Aussie support staff had decided for the team. It was similar to the Ashes series where although the Aussies appeared boring, they planned their field and executed their bowling plans correctly to ensure that they walked away having retained the Ashes, albeit with a 2-2 scoreline. Through the World Test Championship, the Ashes and now, the ICC World Cup, the Australian planning has been spot on and it has been backed by execution. Man to man, the team cannot stand up to the great Aussie sides of the past featuring Steve Waugh’s XI, for example. Heck, they are not even as good as the Indian players are in terms of sheer talent and skill. They make up for it with planning and executing on those plans. In a way, they play like the Chennai Super Kings do. CSK always has precise plans for their bowlers to execute. MSD ensures that they stick to those plans and their results are there for everyone to see.

In the future, if India are to win these big matches against sides like England and Australia, they would do need to do a few things, which will help:

• Introduce one or two net new players into the team who those sides are not aware of/ have not played against in the past. They always tend to struggle against newcomers that they do not have a plan for.
• Improve the fielding, especially among the bowlers. Bowlers also need to dive around and save runs for the field, no different from the batters.
• Plan for each opposition batter down to the No. 11 and execute on those plans.

As a parting note, the importance and sanctity of the World Cup is in danger if there is a bi-lateral series preceding the tournament by a week and another starting just 4 days after the conclusion of the World Cup. There is no time left to ruminate on losses and celebrate victories. Some of those Aussies are back to playing India in a T20 series just 3 days after the World Cup Final! That must suck for them. At least the Indian team is largely different from the one that played the ODI World Cup.