Cummins confesses last-minute decision on toss played huge role in WC win vs IND | Cricket

Much before Pat Cummins’ superb on-field calls with the bowler rotation and field placements, Australia’s relentless effort on the field and Travis Head’s 2003 Ricky Ponting reminder to India with his brave knock of 137, there was another part of the game – toss – that went in favour of the Aussies, and perhaps the most important one. And though a few veterans and experts were left shocked at the bold call from Cummins, it eventually turned out just the way they had expected. The Australia captain, post their six-wicket win against India in the World Cup 2023 final in Ahmedabad, confessed that it was a last-minute decision that the the team arrived on.

Conventional wisdom says you want to put the scoreboard pressure on your opponent in a high-pressure game and hence opt to bat first as it has been the case in the first five World Cup finals where the chasing side lost. But it was the team batting first that conceded the trophy in all the last three finals of the ODI World Cup and the last four of the T20 World Cup. But that trend surely did not affect Cummins’ call to bowl first against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

The Australia captain rather went with results in the four World Cup games played at the venue this year. The chasing side won three of those with Australia being the only exception in their win against a deflated England. But the Aussies did admit that dew played a crucial role in that match as it did in all those three other games.

Heading to the big match, Cummins admitted in the pre-match presser that he was torn between his decision to bowl or bat first against India, and reiterated the same even after Australia’s sixth World Cup title win, saying that there were a lot of discussions right up until the toss. He eventually opted to bowl first keeping the dew factor in mind.

“The pitch played pretty well actually, it was quite slow and basically no bounce, but I don’t think the bounce was anything different to anywhere else in the tournament. It probably didn’t spin as much as I thought it would. Yesterday it looked really dry, but it was quite firm today. Yeah, the wicket was fine really. And then the toss, we were kind of umming and ahhing right up until the toss really – but I thought you know half a chance of the wicket getting better tonight and you know in a World Cup game you can make a mistake bowling and it doesn’t really matter too much, but if you make a mistake batting and you’re 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.

Australia folded India for just 240 runs in 50 overs. The visitors did struggle at the start of their chase with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami picking three wickets with the new ball to send Australia 3 down for 47. But a valiant 192-run stand between Head and Marnus Labuschagne saw Australia wrap up the game with seven overs to spare.