India pacer Mohammad Shami said that the reason why the Men in Blue lost in the final of the ICC World Cup 2023 to Australia cannot be explained. Notably, India had romped into the summit clash after winning all of their 10 games previously.
India had routed New Zealand in the semi-final, as they scored 397 runs batting first in Mumbai. Virat Kohli had made his 50th ODI ton and Shreyas Iyer also scored a brilliant century.
However, when it came to the final against Australia, Indian batting faltered completely. Despite a flying start by Rohit Sharma and India making 80/1 in the first 10 overs, India only managed 240 runs in 50 overs. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul made the fifties, but boundaries didn’t flow off the bat as India hit only 4 fours in the last 40 overs of their innings.
Travis Head then made a scintillating 137 to guide Australia to their sixth World Cup title and India was pondering about missing a golden chance to become World Champions in front of home after 12 years.
Indian pacer Mohammad Shami was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament and picked up 24 wickets from seven innings. This included three five-wicket hauls and his best performance came against New Zealand in the first semi-final, wherein, he picked up a seven-wicket haul and helped the team make a place in the final.
Shami shared details about the team’s environment after the CWC 2023 final loss and stated that the whole nation was disappointed after the Indian team lost the final. He also said that no one can explain what went wrong in the final despite the team trying its best to continue the momentum.
“The whole nation was disappointed (when India lost the World Cup). We tried a hundred per cent to continue the momentum till the end that we had created and win the final. But…it cannot be explained, where we went wrong at the end,” Shami can be seen saying in a video.
