Pat Cummins has revealed the comment from Steve Smith that made him truly appreciate the Ahmedabad crowd’s response to Virat Kohli’s wicket in the 2023 World Cup final.
To bet on the World Cup with our Match Centre Partners bet365 head here.
A six-wicket win over hosts India, unbeaten in the tournament until the final, helped Australia extend their World Cup trophy count to six.
Australia captain Pat Cummins had caused a stir by putting India in, thereby defying the conventional advice of batting first in knockout matches. India raced to 76-1 inside 10 overs before two quick blows reduced them to 81-3.
Virat Kohli (54 in 63 balls) and KL Rahul (66 in 107) then added 67 in 18.1 overs, trying to set up a base for the final onslaught. So tight was the Australian bowling that the partnership featured only one boundary.
Despite the sluggish pace, India preferred to not take on the bowling, presumably to ensure Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and their very long tail got to the crease as late as possible.
The plan did not come off, for at this point Kohli chopped one on to the stumps off Cummins, who had already bowled Shreyas Iyer earlier in the innings.
Cummins finished with 2-34 and India folded for 240. They then reduced Australia to 47-3 before Travis Head (137 in 120 balls) and Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out in 110) batted them out of the match.
In a subsequent interview with The Age, Cummins was asked about the moment from the final that he would remember “on your deathbed, in 70 years’ time”.
“I think the Virat Kohli wicket,” responded Cummins, before going on to describe the stunned silence the ninety-thousand-strong crowd fell into.
“I was obviously very pumped,” said Cummins. “And then we’re in the huddle after that wicket, and Steve Smith says, ‘boys, listen to the crowd for a second.’ And we just took a moment of pause, and it was as quiet as a library; a hundred thousand Indians there, and it was so quiet. I’ll savour that moment for a long time.”
The day before the final, Cummins had stated his ambition to silence the crowd: “The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided but, in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow.”
He achieved his aim in some style.
