In the final, everything came together for Australia. A World Cup that began with back-to-back defeats ended with its captain, Pat Cummins, holding the trophy aloft in Ahmedabad. Here’s how the players responded to Australia’s six-wicket triumph against India in the final, giving them six ODI World Cup titles.
“Our bowlers were fantastic,” says David Warner. They carried over from the previous game and set the tone from the first ball. Tonight’s fielding backed that up. To bowl India out for 240 in a final is incredible. We had a dressing room and a lunch room, and we kept switching places. Marnus (Labuschagne) and Trav (Head) make an excellent team. What a comeback from Head, especially after returning from injury and scoring a century in front of a raucous crowd in a World Cup final. It’s incredible.”
“Incredible feeling!” says Steve Smith. Today’s atmosphere was fantastic. As Davey already stated, this was an outstanding performance. The bowlers set the tone, and the fielding was excellent. Travis Head… he put on a fantastic show. He took the game on and played his game even when we were 3 for 60-odd. With the Test championship and this, we’ve had a fairly tremendous year. Yeah, that was a lot of fun.”
“Pure elation right now,” says Mitchell Marsh. I was telling the boys earlier that it had been the most difficult eight weeks of cricket I had ever experienced. It’s incredible to be here with this group. We were down and out when Sri Lanka was 0 for 120, which feels like a long time ago. Incredible, just incredible!”
“Oh mate!” says Marnus Labuschagne. What we accomplished today is incredible; it is the best accomplishment I have ever witnessed. To come to India… they were 10 out of 10 with only one to play with. They (India) have been the tournament’s best team; they’ve been amazing. But we knew we had a chance if we played our best cricket. Our bowlers have been fantastic, and Travis put on a fantastic display. I’m grateful to the coaches for staying with me. I wasn’t even on the team three months ago in South Africa. So, playing 19 games in a row from there is a miracle. Thank you very much, God.”
