NEW DELHI: Australia captain Pat Cummins's decision to bowl first after winning the toss in the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday surprised many, but the clinical fashion in which the Aussies won their sixth title against a team that looked unstoppable showed that Cummins & co had their plans in place.
India batted first in most of their 10 wins en route to the final, and Rohit did say at the toss on Sunday that he would have batted first. So both the skippers got what they wanted, but Cummins had his reasons to bowl first, and the Australian bowling and fielding synched up nicely to back the skipper and dismiss India for a below-par 240.
"We were kind of umming and ahhing right up until the toss really, but I thought (there was) half a chance the wicket got better tonight (Sunday)," Cummins said after Australia's six-wicket win, as Travis Head's 137 and Marnus Labuschagne's 58 not out led the run-chase.
India had the Aussies worried, reducing the visitors to 47/3 at one tage, but Head and Labuschagne's 192-run stand ended India's hopes of winning their third world title in the format.
Cummins's theory of bowling first in the high-pressure game, where teams usually like to put a total on the board, was gutsy in every sense against the in-form Indian batting line-up, led by Virat Kohli, who ended up as the tournament's highest run-getter (765 runs), and skipper Rohit Sharma in the top order.
But the Australia skipper had his reasons for the decision.
"You know in a World Cup game, you can make a mistake bowling and it does not really matter too much, but if you make a mistake batting and you are under pressure, it can be fatal. So I just felt like it was the right time to go out and have a bowl," he said.
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