AHMEDABAD: The Indian batters finished the ICC Cricket World Cup 21 runs short of a big batting record.
Indian batters have finished with a total of 3,038 runs combined, the second-most by batters from any side. England is at the top with 3,059 runs in the 2019 edition.
Indian batters concluded an explosive Cricket World Cup with a disappointing performance in the finals against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
India was bundled out for 240 in their 50 overs after being put to bat first by Aussies. On a tough batting surface, skipper Rohit Sharma (47 in 31 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes), Virat Kohli (54 in 63 balls, with four boundaries) and KL Rahul (66 in 107 balls, with one four) posted important knocks.
In this tournament, Virat has been the top run-getter, both for India and overall. Virat finished with 765 runs in 11 innings at an average of 95.62, with three centuries and six fifties.
Skipper Rohit Sharma in 11 matches, scored 597 runs at an average of 54.27. His runs came at a strike rate of almost 126. He scored a century and three fifties. Rohit’s best individual score of 131 came against Afghanistan. The fact that he made over 500 runs with a century, some half-centuries at a strike rate of over 125 is pretty marvellous and something rare in ODIs.
Opener Shubman Gill had a solid outing as well, scoring 354 runs in nine matches at an average of 44.25, with four fifties.
Middle-order batters Shreyas Iyer (530 runs in 11 matches at an average of 66.25, with two centuries and three fifties) and KL Rahul (452 runs at an average of 75.33 and a strike rate of 90.76, with a century and two half-centuries) also batted really well to continue the momentum provided by top-order batter in every game.
Ravindra Jadeja (120 runs in five innings) and Suryakumar Yadav (106 runs in seven innings) also delivered some vital contributions.
For England, the toppers in combined run-scoring, Joe Root was the side’s top run-scorer with 556 runs in 11 matches at an average of 61.77, with two centuries and three fifties.
Besides him, Jonny Bairstow (532 runs), Ben Stokes (465 runs), Jason Roy (443 runs), skipper Eoin Morgan (371 runs) and Jos Buttler (312 runs) were also a big part of their maiden title-winning campaign.
Coming to the match between India and Australia, Mitchell Starc (3/55) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia. Skipper Pat Cummins (2/34) and Josh Hazlewood (2/60) also bowled well. Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell got a wicket each.
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj. (ANI)