A little less than three months after Australia clinched their sixth ODI World Cup trophy, senior batsman Steve Smith recalled how incredible it felt to quieten the Ahmedabad crowd.
About 100,000 fans assembled under the roof of the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, most of whom were Indian supporters. India had had unbelievable crowd support throughout the tournament and the size of it in the final wasn’t surprising.
But as the Australia captain Pat Cummins’ strong belief of shutting up the huge crowd turned out to be true, Steve Smith now recalls how special it felt to win the World Cup final in front of the opposition’s home crowd.
After Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s wicket in the World Cup final, the Indian crowd was stunned in silence for the rest of India’s innings. Then, once Jasprit Bumrah and Mohamed Shami completed their new ball spells, taking three wickets combined, Travis Head got into his act with a flurry of fours and sixes, eventually taking Australia to a 6-wicket win. The massive Indian-majority crowd was silenced for most of the match as India lost the final, once again failing to end their ICC trophy drought.
Speaking at the Cricket Australia Awards 2024 last month, Steve Smith said, “The World Cup win was special, in front of a packed house, keeping the Indian crowd quiet was special.”
Indian fans were reminded of that heartbreaking day by Steve Smith’s quotes. This infuriated the Indian fans who slammed Smith for his lack of contribution with the bat in the final – Smith scored only 4 runs before being dismissed by a clever slower ball by Jasprit Bumrah – and overall in the tournament.
Indian troll Steve Smith for his comment on the Ahmedabad crowd:
Steve Smith is currently leading Australia in the ODI series at home against West Indies.
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