After best World Cup win ever, Cummins’ men join the all-time greats

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Australia’s victory in Ahmedabad caps the best World Cup win I can remember in my time playing and covering cricket. To beat this India team, in front of more than 100,000 Indian supporters, on a pitch meant to suit the hosts, is an extraordinary sporting achievement, especially after starting the tournament with two losses.

This group of Australian players had the misfortune of following one of the greatest teams in history, that of the nineties and noughties. It is difficult to always be compared to legends of the past. By winning a World Cup in India, the hardest place to do it, they have now achieved something the greats of old never did. I think some of these names – Warner, Smith, Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood – should now stand with Ponting, Waugh, Gilchrist, Warne and McGrath. They are a special team.

It’s been a very consistent group of Australia players. Seven of the squad won the World Cup in 2015, and 10 of them won the T20 World Cup in 2021. Eight of the XI are part of the side that won the World Test Championship this year, and have shown they can compete in all conditions, which not all teams can, in India and England this year. They deserve a huge amount of respect. They are the best cricket team in the world across formats. Even us English can’t deny them that mantle right now. Not even morally!

A word for Andrew McDonald, the coach. Often we don’t know exactly what every coach does, and he keeps himself to himself. But he is obviously very good at his job, and has to deal with plenty. His partnership with Pat Cummins, who has quickly become an outstanding captain, is superb. Cummins is calm, precise, a great people person who understands cricketers and how to manage them. But inside he has the steel to drive the team.

Tactically, he had a dream final. Choosing to bowl, then swapping his bowlers regularly, squeezing with the field, and bowling brilliantly himself. Australia’s bowlers were all excellent, and they fielded brilliantly.

Travis Head led that with the catch of Rohit Sharma, a huge moment in the game, then played a superb innings with the bat. To be player of the match in the World Cup semi-final and final is very special. In no time at all he has become one of the most dangerous batters in the world, proving that you can improve over time.

Travis Head and wife Jessica can expect a healthy boost to the family budget after Head’s World Cup heroics.Credit: Getty

I am not sure what exactly he has done, but he is a great example to all cricketers that there is room for improvement. Years ago, there was potential, but he wasn’t consistently dangerous. His method now is the blueprint for sustained aggression, and how to dictate terms. My guess is that he might get a rather large IPL contract – and he should.

One thing I’d like to see McDonald do is send home every player involved in the World Cup before the ridiculous T20 series that starts against India on Thursday. They should be allowed to celebrate properly, not play irrelevant games.

I’ve been lucky enough to be at the last four World Cups finals. This has felt, by a distance, the biggest of the four. It’s a monstrous event, partly because of the sheer size of the stadium, but also the appetitive Indians have for cricket. The game is getting bigger and bigger in this part of the world. We are lucky to have a country like India so obsessed with the sport.

I’ve never been on a train or plane, even in India, where everyone was there for cricket. That was what it was like flying from Mumbai to Ahmedabad for the final. All anyone in this country wants to talk about is cricket. I have no idea how many people were actually in the stadium at the final, maybe 120,000. It felt like half a million.

Josh Hazlewood silences a raucous 100,000-strong crowd in Ahmedabad.Credit: AP

As much as we all have a go at the BCCI – and I stand by my criticism of the pitch antics this week – we have to recognise that what India brings to our game is very special. We could only dream of the whole nation being obsessed with our game in the UK.

It can become a goldfish bowl, but it was interesting to see David Beckham come here, to learn what cricket in India is all about and the level of attention these players get. Virat Kohli has 264 million followers on Instagram, which is more than three times what Beckham has. That shows how big cricket is here.

It’s played everywhere, in every open space and down every little alley. You drive back to the hotel late at night and they are playing cricket in these caged areas. Everyone from young to old has an opinion on the game, knows everything about old players like myself. They know everything!

That passion for the game has developed a lot since 2011. The game is bigger because of the IPL. Everyone involved in showbiz and celebrity have grown the reach of the game. Lalit Modi can be a divisive figure, but we probably need to say thank you to him for the vision he had a few years ago.

Was Australia’s World Cup win behind enemy lines the finest ODI performance of them all?Credit: Getty

What he started in the IPL has triggered so much else in the game. It’s brought a razzmatazz and a buzz, so many more eyeballs to the game. They know how to find those eyeballs, especially those of youngsters who want to watch on phones and tablets. Kohli’s hundred against South Africa was watched by 53 million people on digital platforms.

To be in the ground for an India game is extraordinary. When anything goes right for India – a wicket, a boundary – the reaction is like a 98th-minute winner in a football cup final. That’s just how they celebrate every little win. The wicket of Warner early in Australia’s innings was as loud as almost anything I can remember. When things don’t go right the silence is deafening, but just adds to the drama. It’s one or the other, nothing in between. It’s either celebrating success, waving flags and screaming, or total silence, head in hands.

This wasn’t India’s day, but we are very lucky to have a country that is so obsessed with our game. Football is a global sport, so it is a bit different, but India is cricket’s point of difference over every other rivals: billions of people obsessed with our game.

It’s been great to see that in full view over the last few weeks.

Telegraph, London

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