November 20, 2023
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Rahul Dravid gave a peek into what the Indian dressing room may have looked like after the side's devastating defeat in the final of the World Cup on Sunday night. "There is disappointment in the dressing room, and there is disappointment among the boys and among the support staff," the India head coach said about the mood in the change room after Australia recorded a surprisingly crushing one-sided win over the home team. "There were a lot of emotions in that dressing room....

November 20, 2023
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This time last month, Travis Head was back home in Australia watching his team take small steps towards recovery after a shaky start to the ODI World Cup in India. He should've been in India too, if not for a fractured left-hand he suffered in the ODI series against South Africa in the lead-up to the showpiece event. The Aussie selectors, however, kept faith in the swashbuckling opener to recover and make it to India at some stage and have...

November 20, 2023
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It all came together for Australia in the final. A World Cup they started with back-to-back losses came to a close with Pat Cummins, their captain, holding the trophy aloft in Ahmedabad. Here's how the players reacted to Australia's six-wicket win over India in the final, a victory which took their ODI World Cup title count to six. David Warner: "Our bowlers were fantastic, they were flowing from the last game, they set the tone from ball one. The fielding again tonight supported that....

November 20, 2023
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After 10 consecutive wins to reach the final, India were outplayed by Australia on a slow Ahmedabad pitch as the visitors clinched an eye-popping sixth men's World Cup title. If Australia's bowlers put the chokehold to restrict India to 240, it was Travis Head who delivered the final slam with his rollicking 120-ball 137 as they cruised to a six-wicket win. Head, playing decisive roles in the semifinal and final of a World Cup, ensured he placed his name in history and...

November 20, 2023
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It was the end of the 30th over of Australia's chase when Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli found themselves locked in a mid-pitch three-way conversation. All around them, their teammates had already slunked to their fielding positions for the next over and Ravindra Jadeja had handed his cap to the umpire even as this chat prolonged. The Australian batters, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, waited for a bit and saw a window to sneak in one of those...

November 20, 2023
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A 34-year-old respected for his tenacity rather than his athleticism flies through the air with, apparently, the greatest of ease. He is horizontal when he gets both hands to the ball, and hangs on as he crashes to earth like a windmill felled by lightning in a Free State cornfield. A 23-year-old pushes even his formidable physical and mental limits by bowling eight consecutive overs in the muggy soup of a Kolkata night. He knows he has to because the heart...

November 17, 2023
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to initiate discussions regarding the future of the support staff led by Rahul Dravid. Their term could have concluded if India, unthinkably, had lost the semifinal at the Wankhede on Wednesday. It will now end on November 19. Rahul Dravid and his support staff had contracts up to the World Cup, and there were different perspectives within the BCCI on the way forward for the coaching team. Initially, there were...