'Shut them all up': Pat Cummins reveals underlying motivation to beat India in World Cup final

Nearly 10 days after Australia scripted history by beating India in the ODI World Cup final, captain Pat Cummins has revealed the underlying motivation that guided his team to upstage India on the ultimate stage.

Cummins said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that his side wanted to take on by silencing the 130,000-strong Indian crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So, whatever happens today, it’s a special day. We tried to soak it all in. It was a sea of blue, it’s not like people were wearing casuals, and everyone was wearing the blue Indian jersey," Cummins was quoted as saying by ABC News.

“I was just thinking it would be satisfying if we shut them all up basically, we could hear a silence, that’s going to be satisfying. The enormity of it sunk in when we were in that cauldron,” he added.

Cummins' tactical masterclass

Right from winning the toss to apply thefinishing touches to the game, Australia managed to silence the Indian crowd. Cummins was instrumental in making it happen as his field placements and bowling changes worked like a charm on the big day.

After India lost Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer within the powerplay overs, Cummins utilised the inability of Indian batters to seize the moment and bowled his fifth bowling option out.

Such was the squeeze applied by Cummins that after Sharma's dismissal in the 11th over, India only managed four boundaries throughout the innings, with three coming off the bat of tailenders.

Apart from his tactical acumen, Cummins turned up with the ball as well, finishing with figures reading10-0-34-2. He got the wickets of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. Kohli's wicket proved to be another turning point in the match as India never recovered from thereon and finished with a below-par total that was chased with relative ease by the likes of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne.

(With inputs from agencies)