Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne revealed that as the Indian players were having a go at him during the Cricket World Cup 2023 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, he genuinely couldn’t hear anything due to crowd noise.
Labuschagne made 58* in over 100 balls as he added 192 runs with Travis Head (137) to help Australia recover from 47/3 and chase down 241-run target set by India. Australia won by 6 wickets and lifted their sixth World Cup title.
In his latest newsletter titled ‘My World Cup Final Wrap’, Labuschagne shared memories of the World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
“It was so loud and the wave of momentum India had was immense. The Indian team were getting into me and all I could say back, and very truthfully at that, was ‘I actually can’t hear what you’re saying over the crowd’. On this bus ride to the ground, there was fans lining the streets from about 5km out. It was amazing to see the fans get behind the game like they did,” Labuschagne was quoted by Indian Express.
“A sea of blue in the crowd. Chills as the anthem plays.. a real ‘us vs. the world’ feeling. The underdog spirit we love,” he added.
Labuschagne also spoke about the pin drop silence in Ahmedabad when Virat Kohli was bowled by Pat Cummins for 54 runs.
“Standing in the middle of a giant stadium with 130,000 fans in it who all went silent at this moment. We all just stood in the team huddle and took it in for a moment,” Labuschagne said.
However, it’s the wicket of the Indian captain Rohit Sharma that Labuschagne puts as a pivotal moment in the game.
He said: “It was huge in the context of the game. For Maxi to throw it up like he did and tempt Rohit into the shot, and then Heady to take this grab. It was massive."
