08 Oct 2023, India Vs Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. It was a dream for me to watch a cricket match live at the stadium. When I was in Delhi for more than 40 years, did not get an opportunity to watch a cricket match live.
After settling down at Chennai, it was really a god sent opportunity for me to watch a cricket World Cup match live at MA Chidambaram Stadium,Chennai. It was India’s first encounter in 2023 World Cup. Two best teams of the cricket were in the field. Could I ask for more as a cricket fan ? I will never forget this thrilling and exciting experience. Thanks to my friend who helped me a lot to realise my dream come true !
India team was really one of the strong contender of this tournament. But when I think about Australia, I only remember their performance in the World Cups and also they are the five times Champions, is a great achievement that no country has achieved so far.
Australia batted first. When Mitch Marsh out with a duck , the whole stadium reverberated with thunderous applause. All Indian bowlers were performing extremely well and took wickets at regular interval. When Australia was out for just 199, I could not believe that. I thought Australia was going to give a tough fight against India.
When India started batting, I thought that it must be a cake walk for India as Australia set very low target for India. I was completely shocked to see both Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan two outstanding and inform batsmen out for a duck. The whole stadium went into complete silence. To add fuel to the fire Australians also got Sherayas Iyer wicket for a duck. It never happened in a world cup. Three outstanding in form batters back to the pavilion without adding a single run to the score board.
On this pathetic condition, both Virat Kohli and KL Rahul steadied the pitch and started batting cautiously. The crowd which was silent, started cheering Virat and Rahul as both of them played a nice innings and scored 87 & 95 respectively. That helped India to beat Australia in this World Cup.
After this win, India never looked back and played a dominant role and won all the matches including the Semi Final and remained unbeaten and created a world history.
Final at Narender Modi Stadium between India and Australia. India was the favourite team to win this cup considering their outstanding performance in the league stage as well as in the semi final.
Rohit started well by hitting quick 47 runs. But inform batsman Gill and Suresh Iyer have failed to score a big innings where it needed the most. Though Kohli and Rahul steadied the innings but could not raise their scoring rate that eventually brought down India to mere 240.
Indian fans were stunned as they knew it the score is not defendable, yet they had a high hope after considering India’s outstanding performance up to the semi final. First time in this World Cup India’s batting as well as bowling performance was far superior than any other team who competed in this tournament.
Australia batted cautiously but lost three quick wickets. Whole stadium was on their toes as everybody though that India is going to create a history. But like nail in the coffin, Travis Head stood like a pillar at one end and started hitting the balls to the boundary line. He targeted almost all the bowlers and hit a well deserved century. At this moment all the Indian bowlers look like spectators. It was happened to be Travis Head day and he alone defeated India on that day and secured the World Cup for the Sixth time for Australia.
The whole stadium went into complete silence. Travis broken the millions of Indian fans heart. It was a highly charged final and both the teams were fully deserved to be in the final. Though Indian fans were disappointed, yet they are proud of Indian teams performance. The present team one of the best cricket team in the world, and the day is not too far, when Indian clinch their third ODI World Cup title.
V Ramasamy 
Lovely one by Ramaswamy.
Letter Published inThe National UAE on 24 Nov, 23
With reference to Chitrabhanu Kadalayil’s op-ed If India can work the way its cricket team does, the future is bright (November 21): The analysis was well thought out. He elaborately detailed how the Indian team reached this stage and how they twice earlier won the World Cup (1983, 2011) and how they just missed it this time. Indian fans everywhere were shattered. After all, the team was playing so well and this was the first match in the tournament that they lost. It’s important to bear in mind, however, that victory itself does not determine a team’s talents and effort put in over the past months and years.
Naturally there were mixed analyses on the defeat and causes for the loss. Still, the team did their best. It’s just that on the day of the match, the performance fell short and Australia was the better team. Comparing the sport in India to the country’s future progress was especially insightful of the writer.
India has gained cricketing momentum that no one can deny. Notably, the Indian Prime Minister visited the players and consoled them at the end. Perhaps the message was that victory or defeat alone don’t accurately measure a team’s worth.
K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India
Thank you for your nice comments and exactract of letter published in the National UAE on24 Nov 2023. Very nice analysis. Despite defeat, Indians are really proud of their teams performance.
Nice Article. Though they faltered at the finals, they played very well and deserved all the accolades…
Thank you Venkat for the nice comments. Of course Indian players deserve full credits for the outstanding performance !
Now India is one of the best cricket team though they lost World Cup!
Nodoubt about it. India’s young cricketers proved that by winning T20 series against Australia 4-1. Thank you Priti for the nice comments.