Congrats Australia. Hardly the best team in the tournament but again, showing up when it matters. Won an important toss, did not put a foot wrong since except perhaps both powerplays. Most importantly, outplayed us on a very Indian track. Well done. It could have easily been 200 all out for you guys but you made, with some luck, the right calls, esp. having Marnus around and backing Maxwell.
India has a lot of soul searching to do. The pressure thing is honestly a 100 times for India than it is for any other side except perhaps Pakistan or Bangladesh, given how important the sport is to the population. I just dont think its that important for the Aussie fans, at least with their cricket and that breeds a bit more confidence in their players, esp. in situations such as this.
For India, this means all the more reason to invest in bowlers who can bat and batsmen who can bowl, so they can go for it with a little more confidence. There is no way a score of 80/3 in the 11th over should feel like we will be lucky to get 250 here, and yet, its par for course for India in the last 8 years, given how bad the tailenders are.
Feel horrible for Rohit, Virat, Jaddu, Shami esp. as I dont think they will have another shot at a WC. We kept avoiding losing wickets in batches all tournament but that one mini collapse had to haunt us given our fragile batting resources today and it did. This ended up like the 2011 final or the 1996 final. Its a sucky way to feel when its your birthday, but hey, we all know here at CW there are bigger stuff happening in everyone's lives. This is just a distraction that I am not gonna have today. C'est le vie.
I am still bloody proud of a team that dominated a WC as much as we did this time. Champions even if they have not won, for me.