How do India recover from their World Cup defeat?
Sam Balsillie |On 19 November Australia claimed victory over India, winning their sixth cricket World Cup title in Ahmedabad. They beat the home side by six wickets finishing with 241 for 4 and India with 240.
While both teams played to their usual high standard the struggle for the blues became evident some time around when Cummins knocked over Shreyas Iyer’s third ball in the 11th over. What immediately followed was a 107-ball 66 from KL Rahul with only one four struck.
From there, Head and Labuschagne put together a magnificent partnership that helped seal the deal and bring World Cup victory for the Ozzies for the first time since 2015. With the Cup now over for four years, India are both mourning their unexpected loss and looking ahead to how they can secure a different result in their upcoming matches.
The World Cup loss was felt deeply by fans on the Indian side
There were strong reactions to the loss across the country. The sea of blue in the stadium and attendance of the Prime Minister hinted at an expected home win, yet the final hour of the match appeared to be an anti-climax with the 92,000 strong crowd mainly falling silent. Even Cummings’ trophy lift appeared to lack celebration with the team accepting their handshakes away from the centre stage.
Many of India’s fans had placed their wagers on a different result. For those that enjoy the betting experience, online casino sites offer great entertainment and the opportunity to play slots and other games online.
This country takes its performance in cricket very seriously and the loss disrupted a number of institutions in the days that followed. For example, college students demanded time to emotionally recover at the National Law School of India University, while another school in Faridabad decided to postpone its Unit tests.
Even businesses showed empathy to their workers’ disappointment. One marketing agency that had a key role in some of the Indian Cricket campaigns granted their employees a day of rest after the result.
Now, reflecting deeply on their performance in the final match will be critical for India as they plan their recovery.
What contributed to the loss? There were a number of factors that could have impacted their performance in the match, including:
Poor middle order
The Indian side’s middle order is usually known to be highly reliable, however this could be something that let them down in the final game. A number of the team’s top players, including Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer were unable to make any significant contribution to the score as they were expected to, with this issue being compounded by KL Rahul’s innings being slow paced.
The Australian team’s strategy of aggressive batting
From the outset of the game, it was clear that Australia had a very aggressive batting strategy and it is possible that India could not keep up with this. Travis Head in particular was noted for this very robust approach with the bat.
Lack of collaborations
Something else Australia got right was their careful collaborations. Yet India was not able to build any significant partnerships in the match, at one point we did see Virat Kohli and KL Rahul working together but this was not enough to have a big impact on the score.
So, how will India now recover from their World Cup defeat to Australia?
It is time to accept that the 2023 ODI World Cup is now over and done with, however Australia and India have been able to meet again in a slightly different format of the game, the T20. The T20 began on 23rd November and will be played in both the West Indies and the United States from the Summer of 2024.
Part of their recovery strategy will be working on their shortcomings from the ODI World Cup, such as those listed above.
They should also turn their attention to some of the top players who will be key to their recovery as we build to the next world cup in four years time, including Mohammad Shami, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Suryakumar Yadav. The Middle order batsman, Yadav captained for India in their opening match at the T20.
Mohammad Shami took 24 wickets in this World Cup, making him the leading wicket taker as he took one more than Australia’s Adam Zampa. While he’s close to a record, Australia’s Mitchell Starc currently leads the way with 27 from England 2019. However, it’s worth noting this came from 10 games compared to Shami’s seven games.
While India may be feeling the after effects of their defeat against Australia earlier in November, they remain a strong team with plenty of potential and drive to turn things around in time to lift the next trophy.
Leave a comment