[PPS]

I'm afraid a lot is dependent on the dew now + Australian batting lineup having a terrible night!

[SoumenD]

So Aussies bowled the way we expected Indian bowlers to. Absolute beasts in ICC big games

Indian batsmen looked so scared throughout the innings. Felt as if it was a different set of batsmen in the last 10 games and these were some B/C team batters.

Never the less, I still hope our bowlers are able to perform similar to Aussies and we win this one. Go India Go

Hoping just like semis, dew doesn’t come in and our bowlers are able to strangle them

[ninjatalli]

Clinical treatment by Australia on the field - they came well prepared. Quite a few mistakes by Indian batsmen; most vital one being by Sky - what was he playing for? Asking the bowlers (Shami/Bumrah/Kuldeep) to bat and focusing on singles. We are lucky they got to hit some runs atleast. He's the only team member who completely failed in this world cup.

Now it's up to the bowlers - individual records are going to be attained by Kohli (maximum runs) and Shami (most wickets) for sure but whether the team is able to keep the Aussies chained in under 240 is a big question mark. Hopefully the strong run chase shown by NZ in the last match got the bowlers ready for today.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by PPS

I'm afraid a lot is dependent on the dew now + Australian batting lineup having a terrible night!

Dew is due any moment now. So is the Aussie assault.

And the first ball by Bumrah gave me a Dejavu moment a la the Zaheer delivery of 2003 .

But Shami, the hero of the semis may turn up his talent quotient and make this another Shamifinal.

Edit: Shami strikes!

Keeping fingers crossed.

[Emvi]

Wow! India is fighting back. Game on!
Once the ball gets old, it will only get difficult for the Aussies.

[dailydriver]

What's with Rahul?

He is leaking runs like a broken faucet. He batted sensibly but seems to be too flustered now. Hope he picks himself up (and the ball too) soon and performs like he has done in the previous matches.

Three wickets down but the runs have been coming regularly. It's time our spinners start turning the match.

[Shumi_21]

Hoping. Praying for the miracle that's now needed for us to win this final.

[Oxy]

Where the hell are the slips? When picking wickets is the only way you are going to win, why won't you attack more? Baffling captaincy really.

[AYP]

It's over guys.

[harry10]

OK I am out.
This loss won't sting much as I had low expectations anyways due to on going losses in icc finals since long. India were brilliant till now so they gave some hope but first innings was enough to dash them.

They said Rohit will change it and sacked Kohli but story remains the same.

Anyways real cricket is T20 and that too leagues

[RD150]

100 needed from 24 overs with 7 wickets in hand. Australia clear favourites to lift the cup. Surya got a chance today and didn't make much of it. If we dont win, lot of blame will be going surya's way.

[deehunk]

Gill was probably focusing somewhere else in this WC, no major contribution by Shreyas Iyer except against mediocre bowling attacks, and SKY wasted his chances in all matches. We did not learn any lesson from 2019 World Cup. Good bye Dravid!

[SoumenD]

2003 all over again as was feared by many and hence were hoping Australia doesn’t qualify. They aren’t just winning, literally humiliating us once more in ICC WC finals.

We will continue to celebrate personal milestones & win bilateral series’ while Australia continues to win big trophies

India probably wouldn’t have got a better platform. Home conditions, players in form. This is probably the best playing 11 we could have had with current set of active players.

Edit: Hats off to Travis Head for an awesome century. This is way better than 10 centuries in group stage or bilateral series’.

[thanixravindran]

Didn't Australia lost the matches against India and South Africa in the league stage (their only losses in this WC)? If so, they came back brilliant in knock out stage against both of these teams.

Instead of us taking revenge for 2003, it seems they did instantly

[whencut86]

Dejection once again. This loss is going to sting much worse than 2003. Atleast, 2003 was loss was to the best team in ODI cricket that time. This Aus team is nowhere near best, heck they are not even better than us. We just choked big time on world stage when it really mattered. I had posted this earlier in the cricket thread in our forum and not many agreed but the Indian cricket team is really underwhelming and chokes and crumbles under pressure in key matches.

We did that when a test series win was staring at us in SA when we won the first test but lost the next 2 tests against an average SA team. Should have actually won this series 3-0.

We did that when a test series win was staring at us in England, when we messed up just one session and lost the final test despite being in a strong position. Could have easily won this 3-1 or worst case 2-1 with the last match drawn.

We did that in the first WTC final when we could have drawn the final due to rain intervention but we got all out inside of 2 sessions in the final.

We did that in the second WTC final when we lost way too many wickets in a single session in the first innings and couldn't get them out quickly in first innings.

We did that again today despite being the better team and just taking in pressure without hitting back and just crumbling under pressure.

For a team which had the best bowling attack in the world, one of the outstanding batting attack and an enviable bench strength in world cricket, we have been sub par all along and choke under pressure when it really mattered. Analysts and cricketing pundits can sit and analyze but this team just doesn't have it in them to deliver that solid knockout when it matters. Really missed Pant today when he would have counter attacked when our backs were on the wall like how he did in a lot of crucial occasions.

Call it destiny or the mental conditioning, this team is just not cut out for such wins maybe.