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09-Aug-2016Virat Kohli sprang a surprise by walking out at No. 3. The experiment didn’t last long as debutant Alzarri Joseph bounced the Indian captain out for his first Test wicket•AFPDespite the twin strikes, KL Rahul struck a brisk half-century, and added 58 runs for the third wicket with Ajinkya Rahane•Associated PressRoston Chase struck a few minutes short of lunch to get rid of Rahul soon after his fifty•Associated PressJoseph struck again after lunch to remove Rohit Sharma for 9 and India slipped to 87 for 4•Associated PressRahane buckled down in the company of R Ashwin to try and get India back on track, before his wicket, two overs before tea, gave West Indies control again•Associated PressBut Ashwin batted on, brought up his seventh Test fifty and finished the day on 75 not out•AFPWriddhiman Saha kept him company for an unbeaten 108-run sixth-wicket stand that saw India through to stumps without any further damage•AFP

Pakistan chose to bowl but found the Galle pitch not very responsive to pace. They did themselves no favours by being sloppy in the field

Umar Farooq in Galle18-Jun-2015After losing the first day to rain and a chunk of the second to a wet outfield, Pakistan chose to bowl in Galle, a decision their vice-captain Azhar Ali said was “situational” because the pitch had been under covers for so long. The surface did not turn out to be responsive to pace, but Pakistan could have had better returns than three wickets, had they been disciplined in the field.Negligence in the field is a constant problem for Pakistan and they suffered as early as the second over in Galle, when Wahab Riaz had Dimuth Karunaratne caught at slip off a no-ball. Yasir Shah, who isn’t a specialist fielder at point, dropped Kaushal Silva on 6, while Azhar grassed a tough chance off Kumar Sangakkara on 24 and also missed a run-out. Both batsmen made half-centuries, and Silva was unbeaten on 80 at stumps.Despite the hours spent on drills, the on-field results have not improved significantly, but Azhar played down critical questions of Pakistan’s fielding. “I think we just gave away one chance, which should have been taken but all the guys were giving their full effort,” he said. “I think we bowled very well despite (the batting track) and created chances.”With two left-arm quicks in Wahab and Junaid Khan, Pakistan wanted to take advantage of any moisture in the pitch but it began to dry fast after the covers were removed. Wahab broke the opening stand in the 13th over, but Silva and Sangakkara had a century partnership.”It might not have been the best decision to bowl first but it was more of a situational decision,” Azhar said. “Help was there for the spinners, and with the little bit of moisture in the pitch because it was under covers for almost a day and half, we wanted to take early wickets. We didn’t get as many but we are still in the game.”At least one of the remaining three days in the Test is expected to be hit by rain, but Azhar said Pakistan’s focus was to control whatever play took place. “We know that every session we play, we have to be on top of our game otherwise it will bite you. Effectively we have played one day out of two but still we want to control the game and would love to win this from here.”The conditions sometime change with the weather and the surface could liven up with clouds hovering around. But we are focusing on our strength and not thinking too much about conditions. Our main target is to get them out as soon as possible and keep the run flow dry. We are not just going with the flow, we want to win this.”Wahab will be key to how Pakistan fare in this Test, and he was the most impressive bowler on the second day, taking 2 for 51 in 15 overs. He bowled with aggression, targeting a short of a length even if it cost him a few runs. “Every bowler has his strength and we don’t want to snub it,” Azhar said. “We always back his strength and what he wants to do. We know he can trouble any batsman with his pace and we are giving him a free hand with the short length.”As a bowling unit we give him freedom because he creates chances and when you take wickets, regardless of extra runs, you have a chance to win the game.”

Stats highlights from a relentless run-fest between India and Australia

S Rajesh04-Nov-2013

• A total of 3596 runs were scored in the six ODIs between India and Australia, for the loss of 73 wickets in 541.3 overs – a run rate of 6.64 per over, and an average of 49.26 per wicket. In all ODI series – bilateral and otherwise – in which at least two matches have been played, never has such a high scoring rate been achieved: the previous-best was 6.62, when India toured New Zealand in 2009. The top four series in terms of run rates have all involved India.
• The series aggregate of 3596 runs is the fourth-highest in a bilateral ODI series: the three higher ones were all seven-match series, but in each of them the series run rate was less than six per over. In 11 completed innings in this series, there were nine scores of 300 or more, and five instances of teams scoring 350 or more, both of which are records in bilateral series. The previous record for 300-plus scores was six, while no bilateral series had produced more than two scores of 350 or more. In this series, the only two instances of teams not getting to 300 were when India scored 232 in Pune, and Australia ended with 295 in the washed out game in Ranchi.
• There were 107 sixes struck, easily a record in a bilateral series – the previous-best was 62. The number of fours, though, is only the fourth-highest: when West Indies toured India in 2002-03 for the seven-match series and when India went to England in 2007, 353 fours were struck, eight more than in this series. The nine centuries scored, though, is again a record in a bilateral series.
• India finished with a slightly higher run rate (6.71) than Australia (6.57), and also scored more hundreds – six, to Australia’s three. Australia struck more sixes (66 to 41) and fours (181 to 164) than India, though that was also partly because they played an extra innings. However, the batsman who hit the maximum number of sixes was India’s Rohit Sharma – his 23 sixes is a record by a batsman in any ODI series, bilateral or otherwise; the previous-highest was 20, by Shane Watson in just three matches on the tour to Bangladesh in 2011. The next-highest by an Indian in the series was eight, by Virat Kohli. On the other hand, Australia had four batsmen with more than ten sixes: Glenn Maxwell (16), George Bailey (15), James Faulkner (14) and Watson (12). (Click here for India’s batsmen and bowler averages in the series, and here for Australia’s.)
• Rohit’s 491 runs is also a record for highest aggregate in a bilateral ODI series, while Bailey’s 478 is the second-highest. Before this series, the best was Hamilton Masakadza’s 467 against Kenya in 2009.
• Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit added 533 runs for the opening wicket in the series, the second-highest aggregate by a pair of batsmen in any bilateral series. They also put together three century partnerships, only the fourth instance of a pair adding three or more century stands in a series.
• India’s top two wickets added 839 partnership runs in the series, the fourth-best ever and their highest by far in a bilateral series. In fact, so good were the trio of Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli, that Yuvraj Singh’s utter failure – 19 runs in four innings – was hardly even noticed.
• With only four fielders allowed outside the circle even in non-Powerplay overs, batsmen didn’t care to score quickly in the mandatory Powerplay overs. Instead, the onus was on keeping wickets intact. In the mandatory Powerplays, the average run rate was 5.33 per over, with only two out of 107 sixes coming during that period – one each by Rohit and Aaron Finch. However, only eight wickets went down during that period. In the batting Powerplays, teams scored at almost eight per over but also lost wickets. Through the rest of the innings, the two teams averaged 6.86 per over and almost 50 runs per dismissal.
  

  Break-up of runs scored in the Ind-Aus ODI series

  Period of inngs	Runs	Balls	Dismissals	Average	Run rate	4s/ 6s
  Mandatory Powerplay	609	685	8	76.12	5.33	90/ 2
  Batting Powerplay	432	330	13	33.23	7.85	44/ 16
  Rest of the innings	2555	2234	52	49.13	6.86	211/ 89

  The most productive overs in the Ind-Aus ODI series

  Over No.	Runs	Balls	Dismissals	Run rate	4s/ 6s
  48	135	54	1	15.00	11/ 10
  50	103	46	7	13.43	9/ 6
  47	101	54	1	11.22	9/ 5
  49	86	54	3	9.55	8/ 3
  44	99	63	0	9.42	10/ 4
  25	100	66	0	9.09	6/ 7
  38	95	66	3	8.63	8/ 4
  37	94	66	2	8.54	9/ 3
  28	92	66	2	8.36	3/ 6
  46	76	55	2	8.29	7/ 2

• With so many batting records getting smashed, it wasn’t a happy time for bowlers. In the last ODI in Bangalore, Vinay Kumar became only the fifth bowler to go for more than 100 runs in an ODI. However, the batsmen had given the team so many runs to play with that he became the first to concede more than 100 and yet end up on the winning team.

Press conferences with MS Dhoni are inevitably a cat-and-mouse game, as the India captain rarely gives anything away

Sidharth Monga24-Dec-2011MS Dhoni is a headline-writer’s nightmare. He refuses to get drawn into any pre-series big talk, post-win boasting, or discussions about pressure. It’s two days before the Boxing Day Test, the biggest event on Australia’s cricket calendar, and you could sum up the state of mind he wants to project in one quote: “What’s important is to live in the moment. You have to try to win more sessions than the opposition.”There have been comments from the opposition, players both current and retired, but he says, “We shall stick to what we need to do.” Try asking if there is an extra significance to this series, coming as it does after the England debacle and in all likelihood being India’s last away Tests for two years, and he says, “There is no point in taking extra pressure. We look to do well in every game, be it home or away. We look to keep it simple. Do small things well. We didn’t do well in England of course but it’s not about past or future. It’s about the present.”Dhoni informs you that everyone is fit and available for selection, but immediately says there are two days to go and two days is a long time. Lest the headline uses the word “confident”. Even the foreign journalists have stopped asking him about DRS, knowing they are not going to get anything new. Somebody asks him if the “favourites” tag means extra pressure, and he retorts, “Even when we were underdogs, you wanted us to be under pressure”Dhoni is then asked about whether Ishant Sharma’s decision to delay the surgery on his ankle was a wise move. “That depends on the individual and what the physio tells him regarding that,” he says. Somebody else has spotted Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman making a few technical changes, and Dhoni’s response to that is: “Very difficult for me to answer, because technically I am not very sound. Something that the coach does. One of these days I’ll ask Duncan [Fletcher] to come for a press conference.”However, after about 15 minutes of this cat-and-mouse – and it’s not really a criticism because he was not made captain to help sell papers – he does open up a bit, when asked about his own batting. Obviously in Tests, Dhoni the batsman is not the presence Dhoni the batsman is in shorter formats.He has played important Test hands here and there, has scored quick hundreds when setting up a declaration, averages a respectable 38, but that defining big knock has eluded him. Last year he was on the verge of playing one such, trying to help India save the Centurion Test along with Sachin Tendulkar. During their partnership, batting seemed easy, and swiftly India threatened to erase the deficit. Just before a thunderstorm arrived, though, Dhoni got a corker from Dale Steyn, the kind of ball that, produced at the right time, is the difference between a draw and a win. It was 2010, but Dhoni mentioned the South Africa tour when talking of the year of the “80s”.”I don’t think much about it,” Dhoni said. “Of course as I said I am not technically very sound. At times for me it is about adapting to the conditions. Batting at No. 7, especially if you see this year, it hasn’t been a brilliant year for me individually. I see this year as a year where I have scored a lot of these 80s. At times I have been short of partners, like for example, in South Africa I was batting decently, and [during] a couple of innings, all of a sudden I didn’t have batsmen batting with me.”[In these situations] You look to score as many runs as possible, and at times you get out. At the end of the day it looks like you haven’t scored runs. Of course I would like to improve as an individual.”And while walking off, he jokes it was a very long press conference.

Australia bowled only spinners and part-timers after tea on day four in Nagpur, in an attempt to boost the over-rate, a tactic that just about everyone found inexplicable

11-Nov-2008

“In his most embarrassing moment in his 48th Test as Test captain in five years in charge, Ponting opted to worry more about improving Australia’s sluggish over rate than going for broke to try and snare a must-win match when a result was clearly on the line.”
Daily Telegraph”The first question you’ve got to ask is: how the hell can he keep making the same mistake? He has been in that position previously in this series; he has been fined and he has been warned about the slow overs but here we are again… He’s the guy who takes up a lot of time talking to his bowlers, talking to his fielders about tactics, changing his field placings – and all of that just takes too long.”
“Myself as captain of the Australian cricket team, I feel I have a lot of responsibility to play the game in the right spirit, I have an obligation to try to bowl 90 overs in the day’s play… The thing I’m most disappointed about is there seems to be this inference out there that I’ve put myself totally ahead of the team.”
“I might be concerned, I might not be. It depends on getting a clear understanding of the circumstances that ensured that we played the way we did after the tea break… I’d like to understand the situation.”
“I don’t know what to make of all this. They go into the tea break on a high and come out worrying about over-rates… I am glad Ricky can’t read my mind right now because he is not going to like it.”
“Whatever Ponting had in his tea, it did not help his judgment afterwards.”
Times”I remember when I played it was considered a badge of honour not to have a drink in a session [apart from the scheduled drinks break]. And no one died from dehydration. These days there are far too many drinks breaks. It’s ridiculous. But it is just not the captain’s fault. It is up to coaches, referees and umpires to keep the show moving.”
“It’s easy to sit up in the commentary box and poke fire at the captain because of the decisions he’s making out there.”
“One could never imagine Ian Chappell making such a decision in his day but if he had, I wonder whether the likes of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson would have taken it with the same apparent grace that Watson and Lee did today.”
“I always thought he was an ordinary captain and this proves it. His captaincy calculator isn’t that brilliant, is it?”
“To give themselves a chance, the Australians needed to take four wickets in that hour… Did not the dressing room sense the mood? Do they not know that there is a tide in the affairs of men that must be taken at the flood?”
“It’s not the captain’s fault and this was clearly a decision at the weekend made by four or five people.”
“I can’t understand why the fast bowlers wouldn’t bowl off a short run.”
“We were quite happy to get a few runs on the board in that particular time.”

Mumbai’s young batter also credits Ajinkya Rahana and Shreyas Iyer for their roles in putting up big partnerships

PTI12-Mar-2024

Mumbai batter Musheer Khan has said that the presence of Sachin Tendulkar at the Wankhede Stadium during the third day of the Ranji Trophy final inspired him to “bat with motivation”.Musheer, 19, scored a patient 136 that all but batted Vidarbha out of the game. He had earlier made 203 not out in the quarter-final against Baroda, as well as a crucial 55 in the semis against Tamil Nadu.”I did not even know that Sachin sir was here,” Musheer said. “But when I was batting on 60, I saw on him on the big screen and (thereon) I batted with the motivation that he is watching today and I have to impress sir.”Besides Tendulkar, India’s Test captain Rohit Sharma was also present at the ground. However, it was two other experienced players – Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer – who provided valuable advice in the middle, as Musheer put up century stands with both.Related

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“I got to learn a lot during the partnerships,” Musheer said. “It is a matter of pride for me that I got to bat with two Test players, it becomes easier for me too. Everyone in their team was trying to get Ajju (Ajinkya Rahane) out and it becomes easier for me.”It was a dream for me to score a century in the Ranji Trophy final. Me and Iyer had a good partnership, we communicated well and (Iyer) was insisting that we have to bat for long period and take the game as far as we can.”Musheer said there was no risk involved in his tendency to move down the line of deliveries since he has practised a lot for it.”When I was dropped from the Ranji Trophy (squad) last year, I got to learn a lot about the (need to) work on the technique. I have done a lot of preparations with , there still is a lot to do.”There are some wickets where the ball keeps coming straight at you but one odd-delivery cuts (from the pitch), hence I try to not let the bowler settle down and find the right spot to bowl at.”Risk is there in everything. There is risk in defending too – what if there is a bat-pad situation to get out? But I have a lot of confidence with it; I have done a lot of preparation and practise by moving in the front.”I am also ready for the bouncer. If someone bowls that, I can duck too. I move in the front but not with the intent to hit unless I get a half-volley.”Musheer, who is now the youngest to have scored a century for Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy final, revealed that his brother and India player Sarfaraz Khan asked him to forget the first-innings failure and back himself in the second.”I had spoken with earlier and he told me that this is a good opportunity for me in the final, with everyone watching. If I would make runs here, it would be better for me in the future.”When I got out (for cheap) in the first innings, (he told me) it’s okay, back yourself in the second innings and play your game. He told me to bat the way I found was comfortable.”

Tourists declare on 413 after 67-over innings on opening day of tour in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2023SL President’s XI 93 for 2 trail England Lions 413 for 8 dec (Lees 103, Haynes 64*, Bohannon 58, Abell 57, Smith 50) by 320 runsAlex Lees lived up to the fast-paced standards that he had instilled in him during his summer in England’s Test ranks, by striking a 94-ball century on the opening day of England Lions’ tour of Sri Lanka.Lees, who debuted in the Caribbean in March last year, played all seven of England’s Tests in a remarkable summer under the new leadership of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, but was dropped for the recent tour of Pakistan after making 327 runs at 25.15, including two half-centuries.His omission from the ECB’s list of centrally contracted players was a further sign that he had slipped down the pecking order, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett preferred in Pakistan, but his performance against a Sri Lanka President’s XI was clear evidence that the Test team’s new mindset is firmly entrenched in his psyche.He struck 12 fours and two sixes in his innings of 103, the second-fastest century in England Lions’ history, behind Luke Wright – the new national selector – who reached the mark in 91 balls in New Zealand in 2009.Speaking ahead of the tour, Lees acknowledged that an England recall might not be on the immediate horizon, given the importance of backing the Test incumbents in the current regime. But despite his intermittent success, particularly in two key run-chases against New Zealand and India, he admitted that a top score of 67 in ten Tests had been his downfall.”I think I enjoyed being in that environment, especially in the summer playing in a successful side,” he said. “It was brilliant. I think my reflections on playing those games, I sort of played pretty competently but just lacked that big score which is obviously the difference. As a top-order batter, you’re averaging mid-twenties to mid-forties for the summer which, in essence, is what your Test summer is built around.”Nevertheless, Lees’ influence rubbed off throughout a Lions batting card with a very “Bazball” look to it, as England declared on 413 for 8 after 67 overs, a performance that came at better than a run a ball, and included four further half-centuries for Tom Abell (57), Josh Bohannon (58), Jack Haynes (64 not out) and Jamie Smith, whose 35-ball at No.8 was the quickest by an England player at Lions level.Haseeb Hameed was another man who featured at the top of the Test batting order in 2022, with his most recent appearance coming in the Ashes at Sydney in January, but he fared rather less well in his first outing as Lions captain. He fell to his first ball of the match, caught off Kavindu Pathiratne in the first over of the match.In reply, the President’s XI reached 93 for 2 in 19.5 overs before the close, with spinners Liam Patterson-White and Jack Carson both picking up a wicket.The Lions are playing all 16 of their players in this match in Colombo, which is not being classified as first-class. The President’s XI used ten bowlers in the course of England’s innings.

Spanish football could be on the brink of a groundbreaking moment and it’s FC Barcelona leading the charge. According to reports in Sport, the Catalan club is pushing for its December league fixture against Villarreal to be staged not in Spain, but under the Florida sun at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. If approved, it would mark the first official La Liga match ever played outside Spain.

Barcelona push for Miami league showdownRFEF decision could reshape Spanish footballUEFA, FIFA sign-off still requiredFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is set to meet tomorrow to decide whether the ambitious plan goes forward. The proposal, to be tabled Monday, will request UEFA’s backing for the December 20 clash, which is currently part of Matchday 17 in the 2025/26 La Liga calendar. Should European football’s governing body give the green light, the matter would then move up to FIFA, which ultimately holds the authority to approve or reject domestic matches taking place abroad. 

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Under the current fixture list, Barcelona are due to face Villarreal at the Estadio de La Ceramica on December 20. The reverse fixture at the Spotify Camp Nou is scheduled for March 1, 2026. But Barca’s latest push would see the first meeting swapped for a spectacle in Miami, home to Lionel Messi. That week is free from European competition, and while the Copa del Rey’s Round of 32 is pencilled in for December 16-18, the schedule could be reshaped to give both teams the travel time they’d need to cross the Atlantic and prepare.

TELL ME MORE

La Liga president Javier Tebas has made no secret of his desire to take Spanish football to an international audience. And by the looks of it, it might become reality in the 2025-26 campaign. There have been reports that FIFA have accepted that leagues may play one official match per season overseas, which will further aid Tebas' endeavours. 

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UEFA must first give the thumbs-up, ensuring the match complies with European competition guidelines, before FIFA delivers the ultimate ruling on whether La Liga can break new ground. It’s a high-stakes process, but insiders suggest the international governing bodies may be more open than in previous years, especially with other leagues also exploring global expansion.

Andrea Stramaccioni, former Inter manager, has been praised for saving two teenage girls from drowning, but he humbly rejects the 'hero' label.

• Ex-Inter boss Stramaccioni rescued two girls
• Acted instinctively after spotting the danger
• Labels the act as an "instinct to help"

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  While on holiday with his family on a beach in Puglia, former Inter manager Stramaccioni was involved in a dramatic rescue. He noticed two young girls, aged 17 and 19, in distress in the water, who were struggling against strong waves. Reacting to the lifeguard's urgent whistles, Stramaccioni sprinted and plunged into the sea to assist, understanding that the lifeguard would be unable to save both girls alone. His quick and decisive actions ultimately led to the safe rescue of the two teenagers.

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  The girls were out in deep water and one was in a state of shock, causing Stramaccioni to feel genuine fear for both their lives and his own at one point. The former manager, however, believes his actions were not extraordinary, but rather a natural response. "I'm not a hero or a freak; in fact, at one point I had a tough time of it myself," he recounted, downplaying his immense courage.

• WHAT STRAMACCIONI SAID

  Recounting the scene's the ex-Udinese manager said: "I was under the umbrella with my wife and children. At a certain point, in the distance, people started crowding along the shore. One of the lifeguards was in the water, whistling to attract attention. There were two girls waving their arms and screaming, so I got up and quickly headed for the water. I immediately sensed the danger. The lifeguard would never have made it alone. The lifeguard entered the water without anything, neither life jackets nor ropes, like me. He told me to head towards the first girl, the older one, while he would focus on the other. As soon as I saw her, she told me she was scared. The water was deep, the waves were strong, I reiterated to her to stay calm, to stay on her back, and that in five minutes it would all be over. In the end, that's what happened."

  Stramaccioni continued: "As soon as we reached a comfort zone near the shore, I turned around to check on the lifeguard and the other girl. She was in shock. The lifeguard couldn't help her, so I immediately turned back. The younger girl's situation was desperate: she kept disappearing, going down, and then coming back up, and above all, she had already drunk a lot. Meanwhile, the rescue boat had picked up the lifeguard and was trying to reach us, but we were too close to the rocks. They started throwing ropes at us from the rocks, but we couldn't reach them. I started to get scared, especially because the girl was dragging me into the water. She was convinced she was going to die. I'm not a hero or a freak; in fact, at one point I had a tough time of it myself, but as someone with the physical and mental characteristics needed for a similar situation, I felt compelled to intervene. My son asked me, 'Dad, what if I died?' I did it out of a sense of 'protection,' as if my wife or one of them had been in the water."

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  WHAT NEXT FOR STRAMACCIONI?

  Stramaccioni's brave actions earned him recognition from the Coast Guard, who presented him with a symbolic shirt. The Italian's selfless act shines more light on his personality and the human compassion within him, adding a new dimension to his public image while he reportedly awaits his next management role.

Australia’s skipper calls the ODI World Cup win the pinnacle of his career and a moment he will remember for the rest of his life

Osman Samiuddin19-Nov-20231:39

Where does this rank among Australia’s World Cup wins?

What began as a daunting year for Pat Cummins and Australia has ended in ultimate glory, the kind of year that might sit alongside some of the best years any Australian side has had this century. It started with an honourable Test series defeat in India, and it ended with a spectacular World Cup triumph, also in India. Along the way they became, not inconsiderably, Test world champions and retained the Ashes in England.Cummins was in no doubt though that a sixth World Cup triumph, with the odds very much stacked against them in the final against hosts and arch-rivals India, represented the “pinnacle” of their achievements.”That’s huge, I think that’s the pinnacle of international cricket, winning a one-day World Cup,” Cummins reflected, an hour or so after Glenn Maxwell hit the winning runs to seal an emphatic six-wicket triumph in Ahmedabad.Related

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“Especially over here in India, in front of a crowd like this. Yeah, that’s huge. Yeah, it’s been a big year for everyone, but our cricket team has been here in India, Ashes, World Test Championship, and to top it off with this is just huge. These are the moments that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”You only get a shot at it every four years. Even if you have a ten-year career, you might only get two chances at it. And yeah, it’s just the whole cricket world stops with this World Cup. So it doesn’t get any better.”Cummins had spoken before the match about silencing a big crowd and his side did just that throughout the day. The bowlers first put an end to the flurry of powerplay boundaries India hit, and then restricted them to a record low of just four across the last 40 overs of the innings. And when they batted, Travis Head alone hit three more boundaries than the entire Indian batting order, each one stifling the noise of over 90,000, the vast majority of whom were Indian fans.Cummins was, by his own admission, nervous as he waited for the game to start, clocking the sea of blue on his way to the ground as his team made their own way there. But he was nerveless when the game began, first in deciding to bowl first against the tournament’s most fearsome batting line-up, and then, with the ball himself.

“It just felt like it was one of those days where it was all made for him to score another hundred like he normally does, so yeah, that was satisfying”Pat Cummins on getting the wicket of Virat Kohli

He’s had an indifferent tournament with the ball, only to save his best for when it mattered the most. In dismissing Virat Kohli in the 29th over, he produced the moment that did more than most to stun the crowd into silence.”Yeah, we did take a second in the huddle just to acknowledge the silence that was going around the crowd,” he said. “It just felt like it was one of those days where it was all made for him to score another hundred like he normally does, so yeah, that was satisfying.”He had a good day as captain, never allowing India to settle as he rotated his bowlers, quite often after one-over spells. By the 30-over mark of India’s innings, he had made 14 bowling changes, the joint most by any side in this World Cup. No leadership decisions will feel as vindicated as those to keep Head in the squad despite his broken hand not allowing him to play in their first five games, and to persist with Marnus Labuschagne in the XI. Head hit a match-winning 137 in the final and Labuschagne an unbeaten 58, together in a partnership of 192. Labuschagne played through the tournament, despite concerns about the impact it had on Australia’s scoring rate through the middle.Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne put together a 192-run stand to put Australia on the doorstep of victory•ICC/Getty Images”We wanted to be pretty brave this World Cup, we didn’t want to kind of limp into the semi-finals, we wanted to be the team that could score 400 and you saw that the way we kind of shaped up with Trav, [David] Warner and then having [Mitchell] Marshy at No. 3,” Cummins said. “We wanted to be really aggressive and then a couple of our allrounders are obviously aggressive to finish up the innings so we would rather fail that way. But then Marnus just showed his class and in South Africa, you had to pick him – he was fantastic, and he was playing a different style to probably what he did for the first start of his ODI career. It was paying off and we know he’s a gun, so you had to try and find room for him.”And then the Trav Head one was, we thought his World Cup was over. It wasn’t until about the next night afterwards [the injury] where Ronnie [coach Andrew McDonald] came up to me. He’s like, ‘I haven’t slept all night, I think we’re going to keep him, we’re going to take the risk. He might be right for the Netherlands and then if we’re going to make the finals and we want to win the World Cup I think he needs to be there for the finals.'”Cummins had only played two ODIs since November 2022 (and eight since November 2020) when the World Cup began. But he said he had rediscovered the joys of the format during the World Cup, calling for more games that matter. The future of ODIs is likely to be discussed at the ICC Board meetings this week in Ahmedabad, though no concrete decision is expected.”Maybe because we won, but I did fall in love with ODI [cricket] again this World Cup,” he said. “I think the scenario where every game really matters, it does mean a bit different to just a bilateral. So yeah, I don’t know. I mean, the World Cup’s got such a rich history, I’m sure it’s going to be around for a long time. There’s so many wonderful games, so many wonderful stories within this last couple of months. So, I think there’s definitely a place.”