India had dominated the entire tournament, cruising through the group stage undefeated. They had killer batting lineups that smashed bowling attacks and ace bowlers that ripped through opposing teams. Australia, on the other hand, barely squeaked into the knockout rounds after losing two group matches. So how on earth did the underdog Aussies end up lifting the trophy over the tournament favorites?
Never Give Up!
Australia had lost 2 games in the group stage, to India and South Africa. Things looked bleak when they realized they had to face South Africa in the semis and India was awaiting in the finals. But they didn't lose hope...
The match against SA was off to a rough start, but they didn’t let that bring their morale’s down. They fought tooth and nail and with 3 wickets and 16 balls to spare won the match.
And then came India. The Aussies conceded 80 runs in the first 10 overs, taking only two wickets. But then started what can only be described as terror. As a redditor put it,
70% of Earth is covered by water, the rest by the Australian fielding.
India’s batting attack screeched to a halt with what felt like a test batting. Anywhere you hit the bowl, a fielder was present. At one point India went about 20 overs without a single boundary. The field setting was extraordinary. But despite this, India put down a semi-decent target.
When Australia came to bat, India proceeded to crunch three important wickets on a loss of 60 runs. By the first 20 overs, it looked like India’s bowling order could bring the cup home. Australia seemed in trouble, 2 more wickets and the Aussies would fold. Unfortunately for Indians, that didn’t happen.
Travis Head took risks while Marnus Labuschagne stabilized the partnership. Their partnership of 192 runs was the silver bullet. And with a shot and a bang, the cup was theirs.
This road had a lot of moments where Australia could give up. After the rocky start to the tournament, after realizing the teams they have lost to are the ones they have to face, after the rough start against SA, after the rough 10 overs against India’s batting, or after they lost 3 wickets. But they didn’t, and they have a trophy to prove that.
There is very fine line between confidence and over confidence
India had entered the cup on the heels of winning the Asia Cup. Add to that being undefeated in the entire tournament. They had been unscratched and had demolished any team that stood infront of them. They were on home ground with 100k+ fans cheering them on. The players were in excellent form. What could go wrong?
Overconfidence. India became reckless and started taking risks, we saw that in the last matches of the group stage and the semis. These risks while didn’t cost much in those matches, Australia was a different beast. A dropped catch here, a over-aggressive shot there, a misfield on the way and the cup is lost.
Confidence is necessary, indeed essential in sports. But minute you cross the very fine line between confidence and over-confidence, you have a target on your back. India had that coming a long time, unfortunately the dues came in the finals…
Be humble, be grateful and have feet on the ground and eyes on the stars.
Execution matters a 100 times more than a plan
An 3 ingredient brownie executed to perfection is better than a burnt macrons.
India and Australia started with explosive batting and lost wickets quite early. Then they both had a heavy hitting batsman supported by another batsman stablsing the partnership. In the last overs, the batsman started hitting bigger shots risking wickets but adding runs.
At least that’s the concept they both had, while only fragments of its existence of this plan could be seen for India, the plan translated to reality for Australia. It doesn’t matter what they had both planed, it matters who executed it well.
The same can be said about the bowling plan. A plan is just a map, unless you drive down the path, you don’t really reach anywhere.
Planning is cheap, Execution is expensive.
In conclusion, we need to realize that it doesn’t matter if India played the entire tournament better than Australia. It matters whether they played the final as well or not. It is without debate Australia’s fine play, never give up attitude coupled with flawless execution which crushed India, which was already weakened by their overconfidence.
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