Rohit Sharma and his men faced the most disappointing moment during the CWC 2019 finals. On 19th November 2019, Australia defeated the men-in-blue on their home ground by 6 wickets to win their 6th World Cup Trophy. The crucial reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals despite being the unbeaten team shocks every Indian fan.
Millions of Indian fans’ hopes were destroyed, as the unbeaten team concluded as the runners-up of the CWC 2023 tournament.
After a long journey of entering the finals as the most dominant team, luck favored the Aussies to defeat the men-in-blue on their home ground.
As a result, India has to wait for another 4 years with the hopes of lifting the ICC World Cup Trophy.
Though there were many possibilities to win despite batting first, there were other reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals.
Important Reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals:
Here are the most shocking reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals against the 6 times defending champions:
1. Losing the toss:
This was one of the beginning reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals.
The Australian skipper Pat Cummins invited the hosts to bat first after winning the toss. This completely favored the Aussies to restrict the Indian batsman to a low score.
The Indian batsman needed around 280 to 350 runs to defend their target against the Aussies under the lights. As the pitch, completely favors the batsman during the 2nd innings, the toss played a crucial role in almost deciding the winner.
2. Rohit Sharma’s explosive selfless innings:
Playing on a chasing surface like Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad makes it challenging for the batsmen to score runs during the hot weather conditions. Especially, during the first innings, the ball takes effort to come onto the bat.
Unlike the previous matches, Rohit Sharma’s plan to explode early completely failed. Rohit Sharma batting on a tricky surface completely lost his control despite the early fall of Shubman Gill.
After being set at the crease, Rohit Sharma smashed a six and a four during Maxwell’s over. Being desperate to hit another shot, Rohit Sharma completely mistimed it. The lack of perfection in shot selection made Rohit Sharma fall into the trap, with Travis head taking a spectacular diving catch.
Rohit Sharma, at 47 runs should have controlled his shot to continue his innings for a long time in a crucial match.
With the restlessness to achieve quick runs, losing his wicket resulted in the Indian team failing to score the crucial 80 to 90 runs on the board.
3. Lack of attempt to score runs through boundaries:
This was one of the crucial reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals match. The Indian batsmen were unable to target the part-time Australian bowlers to score runs.
After Rohit Sharma’s dismissal, only 5 fours were hit by the batsmen between 10 to 50 overs such as:
- Shreyas Iyer– 1 four
- KL Rahul– 1 four
- Suryakumar Yadav– 1 four
- Mohammed Shami– 1 four
- Mohammed Siraj– 1 four
Virat Kohli with his half century of 54 runs from 63 balls, smashed 4 fours during Rohit Sharma’s presence. After the quick fall in wickets, Virat Kohli was unable to score runs through boundaries by finding gaps.
KL Rahul had to play the most number of dot balls by scoring only 66 runs from 107 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja scored only 9 runs in 22 balls, by trying to play maximum dot balls.
Suryakumar Yadav scored 18 runs from 28 balls during the completing phase of the 1st innings.
The Indian batsmen didn’t attempt to play fearless shots after Rohit Sharma’s dismissal. Rather, they preferred to save their wicket by counting on singles, doubles, and dot balls.
The major decline in boundaries slowed down the run rate, resulting in India posting a total of 240 runs in 50 overs.
4. Inability to rotate the strike:
The inability of their batsmen to rotate strikes has been one of the prime reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals.
The Australian bowlers’ and fielders disciplined performance made it tough for the Indian batsmen to score runs through singles and boundaries.
As a result, many deliveries bowled were consumed as dot balls rather than rotating the strike. This resulted in India falling short of 30 to 40 runs.
The importance of an additional 40 to 50 runs proved to be one of the reasons for India’s loss in the CWC 2023 finals.
5. Jadeja promoted ahead of Suryakumar Yadav:
Ravindra Jadeja was promoted ahead of Suryakumar Yadav in the batting lineup after Virat Kohli’s dismissal.
Jadeja as an all-rounder could not enhance India’s total by facing a tough time against the Australian bowlers.
After Jadeja’s dismissal, Suryakumar Yadav under pressure could not play his natural game.
6. Indian Middle Order collapsing performance:
Rohit Sharma’s selfless innings hoping for the middle order to perform well completely backfired. The middle order collapsed sequentially, unable to maintain a steady partnership.
Neither the middle order was able to score runs through boundaries nor they could rotate the strike. As a result, the middle-order batsmen failed to maintain the proper flow of runs.
7. Mohammed Shami with the new ball:
Mohammed Shami bowled with the new ball for the first time in this tournament in place of Mohammed Siraj.
Initially, Shami was successful in taking the crucial wicket of David Warner. Later, the fast bowler was unable to take wickets and conceded more runs.
8. Lack of Bowling Options:
The Aussies had seven possible combinations of bowlers. This includes the all-rounders as well as the part-time bowlers.
Conversely, India had to follow the 5 possible stitched combinations of these bowlers:
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohammed Shami
- Mohammed Siraj
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Kuldeep Yadav
Defending a low score of 240 runs and the lack of alternative bowlers in the playing XI completely favored the Aussies during the chase.
9. Inability to break the partnership between Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne:
At 47-3 in 7 overs, India seemed to be completely under control. However, the Indian bowlers were unable to grab wickets instantly as the match progressed.
Moreover, it seemed impossible for the men-in-blue to break the partnership between Head and Labuschagne.
The 192-run partnership between Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne guided their team safely to the winning total.
Unfortunately, this has been the major reason for India losing the CWC 2023 finals.
10. Moderate Fielding compared to Australia:
The Aussies’ disciplined bowling and fielding attack prevented the Indian batsmen from scoring huge runs.
The Australian bowlers conceded 12 extras but restricted the opposition to a low total. Also, the Australian fielders prevented boundaries by saving at least 20 to 30 runs. Additionally, the Aussies prevented the Indian batsmen from scoring runs through singles.
Contrarily, the Indian fielders let the Australian batsmen take easy singles while defending a low score. Moreover, the bowlers conceded maximum extras (18 runs) that included wides, leg byes, and overthrows.
Unfortunately, this has been one of the primary reasons for India losing the CWC 2023 finals on their home ground.
