Australia was in trouble after losing to South Africa and India in their opening two ODI World Cup 2023 matches. To make things better, they needed something special, and they succeeded in doing so. In order to win their sixth ODI world title, the Pat Cummins-led team had to win nine straight games and overcome India on the final night in Ahmedabad.
After Australia’s opening-round defeats in a row, head coach Andrew McDonald disclosed the circumstances in the dressing room. Despite the two setbacks, he said the squad never gave up and thought they were headed in the right direction. The 42-year-old added that the team was working together to solve the problem; therefore, there was no assigning of blame in the locker room.
After the match, there was a gathering (after South Africa’s defeat). However, that served as a reminder that we were headed in the right direction once more. Even though it didn’t happen in the first few games, the message was to “let’s stick with it and believe in what we’ve set out to achieve.”
“I believe there have been times like that when we were losing the Test series 0–2 in India, and you pull the team together by essentially restating your initial goals. I believe that if you start to change course at that moment, it could incite fear among the group. Additionally, it suggests that your preparation may have been sound, and with two out of nine World Cup matches remaining, now is not the time to start discarding the old for the new.
According to Andrew McDonald, it was just time to say, “Okay, let’s get moving,” on SEN Whateley.
Notably, Australia dominated the summit conflict for the most part of it. The Men in Blue got off to a quick start thanks to Rohit Sharma, but once he was removed, things went tough for India as they were bowled out for 240 runs. The Kangaroos were 47/3 at one stage thanks to the Indian pacers’ early success, but Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne combined for 192 runs to help the Australians win the prized championship.