"What Swung The World Cup Final In Australia’s Favour Was...": Suresh Raina

Former India National Cricket Team player Suresh Raina has said that the captaincy of Pat Cummins swung the game in Australia’s favor in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Australia beat India by 6 wickets in the final of the World Cup 2023. The Aussies comprehensively outplayed India in all three departments and ended their 10-match winning streak in the marquee tournament.

Talking about the match, Suresh Raina said that Australia were the better team in the World Cup final and they deserved to win. He added that Pat Cummins did a brilliant captaincy in the match and was one of the reasons for his team’s win.

“Australia played better than India, you can’t complain about that. It was just one bad day at the office,” said Raina, as quoted by TOI.

“What swung the game in Australia’s favour was Pat Cummins’ captaincy. The way he brought Glenn Maxwell in to the attack to get the wicket of Rohit Sharma with a brilliant catch from Travis Head was very smart. Adam Zampa was great too, as was Cummins himself in dismissing Virat Kohli,” said Raina while talking to ICC.

Suresh Raina also lauded Australia’s fielding in the World Cup final, giving a special mention to Travis Head’s spectacular catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma, who was batting extremely well. He elaborated:

“Another big factor was Australia’s fielding, I think they saved 30 to 40 runs. From ball one, they were saving a lot of singles and boundaries. There was Travis’s catch and some excellent work in the deep from David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne.

“I think Cummins showed real temperament in his captaincy. He changed his bowlers knowing he could put pressure on each India batter even though they were all in such good form. His tactics made all the difference and his planning and execution was perfect.”

Travis Head played the best knock of the World Cup – Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina also lauded Travis Head for his brutal 137-run knock that pushed India out of the game in the World Cup final during the run-chase.

“If you look at Australia’s innings, they were 47 for three, but India couldn’t put the pressure on because they were only defending 241 and then Travis Head played the best knock of the World Cup to change the direction of the game with his positive batting,” Raina added.

Suresh Raina labeled the dismissal of high-flying Rohit Sharma as the turning point of the match for India.

“It was very dry and they couldn’t keep pressure on with the bat because Australia bowled a lot of short balls and deliveries into the wicket which meant India couldn’t rotate the strike. Rohit’s wicket was a turning point and there were not enough runs on the board, especially when you’re used to making totals of up to 400,” said Raina.

Suresh Raina further lauded Rohit Sharma for his fantastic captaincy throughout the World Cup, saying that his planning, decision-making, approach, and execution were absolutely top-notch.

“I thought Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was fantastic too. He looked very solid in his planning, decision making, approach and execution. He looked like a proper leader.

Like MS Dhoni before him, he brought a team together and they played excellently. I don’t know if Rohit will play in the next 50-over World Cup, he might play in the T20 World Cup, but he really wanted to win the World Cup for the whole country. But God planned something else,” said Raina.