Added to it is the jitteriest thing in the world, where the arrival of a new ball and the launch of an innings can be bothersome even to the mightiest of legacies. Even the boldly spoken Virender Sehwag has confessed to fidgeting during the opening moments. And during the final of the ODI World Cup 2023, Travis Head of Australia conferred some of those moments and eventually led his team to victory.
The former India Head Coach Rahul Dravid revealed this lesser-discussed part of the infamous final, stating how close India came to changing the course of events. India’s pacers had dominated the tournament, but on the night of November 19, 2023, it wasn’t quite on their side. Defending a modest target of 241, India drew first blood by first dismissing David Warner.
However, as Head took his position at the crease, he appeared to be in some sort of discomfort. He was unsettled by the probing length deliveries by Jasprit Bumrah, and even Mohammed Shami bowled a maiden in the eighth over, while Head found it hard to connect. Dravid brought out the point: Lady Luck had a big party here. Head, who anchored the chase for Australia later in the day, had failed to connect ball onto the bat on close to 15 such occasions during the day – something that could have worked in India’s favour.
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“I remember, we beat the bat of Travis Head 15 times — he didn’t get an edge. Sometimes it goes your way, but you’ve got to stick to the process. You look back after the game is over and you realize that even when you do everything, at times you get lucky,” shared Dravid at the CEAT Cricket Awards event.
He had also said at the close that “failure and success in cricket is a very thin line, it’s all small margins, like keeping one foot inside the line”. India had some good fortune go their way as well. The biggest was when Steven Smith was given out LBW off the final ball of the seventh over by Bumrah, the ball just clipping the off stump.
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The Aussie batsman declined to review. Similarly, in the 28th over, Bumrah almost bowled Labuschagne with his legs, something similar to when India’s fate was left hanging by millimeters due to the umpire’s decision. “By millimetres does the fate of major events hang!” was Harsha Bhogle’s comment on-air, succinctly capturing just how close India had come toward the changing mood of the game.
