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Indian batter KL Rahul's gritty knock of 66 ended, thanks to a brilliant spell of reverse swing from Australia's Mitchell Starc during the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, November 19.
Rahul took 107 balls to score his 66 runs and was the glue that held the Indian batting together. However, just when it looked like he was ready to up the ante, Starc bowled a brilliant delivery from around the wicket and exploited the reverse swing on offer.
The ball pitched on a good length and just moved away enough to take KL Rahul's outside edge. Josh Inglis completed a simple catch and there was probably nothing that Rahul could do about an absolute peach of a delivery.
Here's the video of the dismissal:
KL Rahul's wicket was one of many India lost at the wrong time
After what was a fantastic powerplay for India, thanks to a quickfire 47 again from captain Rohit Sharma, they kept losing wickets at just the wrong time. After being 81/3, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul had to consolidate and ensure that there wasn't a potential batting collapse.
The duo added 67 runs for the fourth wicket but also consumed 109 balls. Pat Cummins then struck with Kohli's wicket and pegged the hosts back. Ravindra Jadeja was then sent ahead of Suryakumar Yadav but even that move didn't work as the ball started to reverse and a flurry of wickets followed.
In an innings that had no momentum whatsoever, India got bundled out for just 240. Australia will be over the moon to have been able to restrict the Men in Blue to that score after opting to bowl first.
The only hope for the hosts now is that if dew doesn't play a role, they have the bowling quality to make a match out of it.
