Despite comfortably outnumbering the Australian fans, the Indian fans in the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad needed some hyping up from starman Virat Kohli as Australia looked comfortable in their chase in the World Cup 2023 final.
With Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne setting up a partnership nicely, it was Virat Kohli who once again energized the crowd with his own energy. If not the stadium DJ, it was Kohli who hyped up the crowd with his gestures and passion that the fans could feel.
More than ever, it was during Head and Labuschagne’s partnership that India needed the support of the home crowd, not least of the 100,000 which is the most a stadium can house in India.
Seeing perhaps the drooling shoulders of the players and the stunned silence in the crowd, Virat Kohli gestured the fans to cheer up for the bowler running in.
Watch: Virat Kohli hypes up the Ahmedabad crowd
View this post on Instagram
India finished with a total of 240, which is still a fighting total on this surface. Rohit Sharma gave India a cracking start with his 47 off 31 balls. But Rohit and Shreyas Iyer got out in quick succession. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli then slowly rebuilt India’s innings with their partnership of 67 (109) before Kohli got out for 54 runs. Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul, who scored 66 runs, too followed. Cameos from Suryakumar, Kuldeep, and Siraj dragged India to 240.
Earlier, Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bowl. Rohit announced that India will be playing the same XI that has played in the last 6 matches.
World Cup Final Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
