Australia on Sunday achieved its sixth Cricket World Cup victory in a six-wicket win over India.
This year’s host was India, with the final match played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the western Gujarat state. A crowd of over 92,000 people attended the event.
Australia has the most World Cup wins of any team. India’s last global title was the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Opener Travis Head hit 137, propelling Australia towards victory.
Australia reached its target in 43 overs, breaking India’s winning streak of 10 matches. India was held to a modest 240 total.
In the group stage just six weeks ago, India was holding a slim lead.
Australia was defeated by India on October 8 and then by South Africa days later.
India star batsman Virat Kohli ended the Sunday match having set a new record for most runs — 765 — at a single World Cup.
Australia celebrate ‘very special’ win
Pat Cummins said captaining Australia in the World Cup was the “pinnacle in cricket” following the win.
“That’s huge, that’s the pinnacle in cricket, winning a World Cup, especially here in India, and these are the moments you remember for the rest of your life,” said Cummins.
“I was a little bit nervous this morning, pacing around the hotel,” he said. “You know you are walking into something very special.”
India coach Rahul Dravid hailed captain Rohit Sharma’s “fantastic” performance despite the host country’s loss.
“His batting was fantastic, the way he set the tone for us. We knew we wanted to play a certain way and we wanted to play a positive attacking brand of cricket,” Dravid told reporters. “And he was very committed to doing that.”
“He wanted to lead by example. I thought right through the tournament, he was quite superb in doing that. And yeah, I just can’t speak more highly of him as a person and as a leader.”
He said that India would learn from the defeat.
“That’s sport. That happens. And the better team won on the day. I’m sure the sun will come up tomorrow morning. We’ll learn from it. We’ll reflect and move on, as will everyone else,” he said.
sdi/rs (SID, AFP, Reuters)
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