Sport

Five quick hits: Travis Head's catch, partnership with Marnus Labuschagne key as Australia wins Cricket World Cup against India

Australia has upset the apple cart in a big way to beat India to win their record-extending sixth Cricket World Cup title at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Travis Head again was the hero for Australia, winning player of the match for his stunning knock of 137 and a magnificent catch early in the match to dismiss a rampant Rohit Sharma.

Here's the five quick hits from Australia's six-wicket victory.

• Scorecard: Australia completed six-wicket victory
• Report: 'Absolutely phenomenal': Australia stuns previously undefeated India to claim World Cup

1. A bold decision and Pat Cummins's canny captaincy

The toss in any match can be crucial, particularly in a World Cup final, but Pat Cummins raised some eyebrows when he won the toss and opted to bowl.

After initially booing, the crowd roared its approval at the decision.

"I'm not an expert but are Australia overthinking the spin and the dew, hoping that it gets easier to bat second?" BBC commentator Prakash Wakankar said.

"I am still surprised. I thought it was a certainty that whoever would win the toss would bat."

Rohit Sharma said he would have batted first: "It's a big game, let's put runs on the board."

Cummins though, was absolutely confident in his decision — and it paid off.

"We were tossing it up," Cummins said.

"We've been batting first for most of the tournament but we thought tonight was a good chase night because it felt it might get a little bit easier and everyone was pretty keen to get out there."

It proved a masterstroke, but it wasn't just at the toss that Cummins showed his captaincy credentials.

Through the middle part of the match, Cummins chopped and changed his bowlers regularly, going through a period of one-over spells as he made a grand total of 22 bowling changes in his 50 overs, the most he made in the tournament. 

2. Travis Head's stunning catch

Big games hinge on big moments — and make no mistake, this was as big as it comes.

Rohit Sharma said he wanted to put a total on the board, and initially it looked like he was planning on doing it all by himself.

The Indian skipper bludgeoned three sixes and four boundaries in 31 balls to reach 47 as India raced to 1-76 inside 10 overs.

So when he miscued a Glenn Maxwell delivery over the top of the cover field, it would have probably fallen safe, but for Travis Head's stunning run and catch.

Making up a whole heap of ground, Head chased the ball and caught it on the dive over his shoulder in a layout an NFL wide receiver would have been proud of.

"He's probably the most unlucky man in the world," Head joked, bashfully.

In reality, it was something quite sensational — "phenomenal", according to Deep Dasgupta on BBC commentary.

It was a stellar piece of fielding in a match jam-packed with such examples and changed the entire context of the game — after that moment, India scored just five more boundaries in the innings, having hit eight fours and three sixes before that.

The brakes had been put on, and India never recovered. 

3. Virat plays on

As much as the brakes were on, with Virat Kohli in the middle, India was always a chance.

It took a while, but both he and KL Rahul gradually recovered for India and were slowly building, Kohli bringing up his half-century off 56 balls.

But it was a false dawn. Pat Cummins, bowling back of a length on a slow and tacky pitch, had Kohli playing on to be bowled for 54.

Kohli was aghast, staring at the bails blinking on the ground at him in horror before trudging off in virtual silence.

India's talisman was gone, the man who would later be crowned player of the tournament having scored 765 runs and three centuries at an average of almost 100.

India was 4-148, eventually slumping to 240 all out, the first time they were bowled out in the entire tournament.

4. Marnus steadies the ship

It was pretty clear that India was a fair few runs short in its total of 240, but in cricket you never know, especially when one of those teams is backed by around 100,000 raucous supporters revved up to fever pitch by events happening in front of them.

Australia tried to silence those fans again by coming out swinging, but the early wickets of David Warner (7), Mitch Marsh (15) and Steve Smith (4) saw Australia slump to 3-47 at the end of the seventh over, with the crowd going wild in the stands.

Travis Head was still playing positively, but he needed to slow down and he needed support.

Marnus Labuschagne revealed that was not even sure he would be in the team the night before the final, but selected he was, and everyone would have been mighty relieved given the impressive innings he played.

"Marnus batted brilliantly," Head said. "It is great to bat with him. It was an amazing partnership."

Labuschagne's 50 came up off 99 balls with just his third four of the innings. It was gruelling and tough, and exactly what was necessary as Head continued to play expansively.

"Credit to those two guys in the middle," Rohit Sharma said.

"Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, they stitched a big partnership together and put us completely out of the game."

5. Jasprit Bumrah's fateful 28th over

With Labuschagne and Head well set and starting to score more freely again, India needed one last roll of the dice.

Rohit Sharma threw his main strike bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, the ball in the 28th over to break the partnership and put India back in the game.

Instead, Australia broke India's heart.

Bumrah's first ball was clipped to four through mid-wicket, the second earned an appeal after Bumrah deflected a straight drive onto the non-striker's stumps only for Labuschagne to be still in there with his bat grounded, then Head punched the third ball down the ground for four more.

A single to cover came next, and then the drama.

Bumrah hit Labuschagne on the pad and was adamant it was out, Rohit immediately calling for a review.

By the narrowest of margins, ball tracking showed that less than half the ball was hitting the leg stump, meaning the decision would remain umpire's call.

Having run a leg bye, Bumrah faced Head again, who promptly rubbed his nose in the dirt with another four to backward square leg this time.

Fourteen runs came from that over, ending a five-over sequence that bought 40 runs.

India's heads went down, the 125,000 people made less noise than you'd get in your average library, and the game was all but over.