Six moments that defined the World Cup final as Australia crush Indian dreams

Australia won a record-extending sixth World Cup title by stunning an Indian side that had gone into the final after dominating every team they faced.

Australia captain Pat Cummins had said that he would like it if his team silenced the huge home crowd that they would be up against in Ahmedabad when they play India in the World Cup final. Well, they ended up doing that and more as they beat Rohit Sharma's side and won a record-extending sixth World Cup title. India, who had dominated every opposition they faced throughout the tournament and were on a winning streak of 10 matches, ended up losing the final in Ahmedabad by six wickets.

Rohit Sharma's dream of winning the World Cup remained unfulfilled (PTI)

India got off to a quick start, as has been the case for them in almost every match in this tournament, smashing 80 runs in the first 10 overs. But Australia sensationally applied the chokehold for the rest of the innings, bringing their run rate from over 7 after the first 10 to under 5 towards the end. India were all out for 240 and they got off to a promising start in their defence as well with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami picking three wickets in the first seven overs. However, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne shut the door on them and Australia went on to take yet another World Cup title.

Let's look at six moments that defined the match:

1. Rohit Sharma's rocket start

Rohit Sharma has ended the tournament with a strike rate of 125.94 after scoring 597 runs in 11 matches. Only Virat Kohli, who broke the World Cup record by scoring 765, is above him. He has been getting India off to quick starts like clockword and it was no different in the final after being put to bat first by Cummins. Rohit smacked 47 runs in 31 balls with four fours and three sixes before falling in the 10th over to Glenn Maxwell thanks to a fantastic catch by Head.

2. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul's partnership

Rohit's wicket was India's second to fall and they then lost the in-form Shreyas Iyer in the next over. India were suddenly looking shaky but Virat Kohli and KL Rahul tried to bring some calm to the proceedings. While they put up 67 runs for the fourth wicket, it came off a whopping 109 balls and there was just one boundary in the entire stand.

3. India's late collapse

Rahul scored 66 in 107 balls and he had been looking to accelerate when he fell. This left Suryakumar Yadav as India's only batter and India's long tail came to bite them. Suryakumar couldn't make much of an impact and India ended up losing five wickets in the last nine overs, scoring just 37 runs in the process. The hosts were thus all out for just 240 runs.

4. David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh's quickfire starts

Australia's innings got off to a high octane start. David Warner and Travis Head came out all guns blazing, as did Mitchell Marsh after the former fell. Warner and Marsh may have been dismissed for just seven and 15 runs respectively but they both hit at least one boundary each, with Marsh hitting a six and a four. That meant that Australia had scored 41 runs inside five overs despite losing three wickets.

5. Steve Smith decides not to review a wrong call

The only when it looked like the game might have actually turned in India's favour was when they followed up Marsh's wicket with that of Steve Smith, whose anchor Australia would have depended on in a chase of this fashion. Smith fell LBW to Jasprit Bumrah in the seventh over and the Australian vice-captain decided not toe review the decision. Replays showed that the the impact would've been outside off and Smith would have been safe had he gone for the DRS. He fell for four runs off nine balls.

6. Head and Marnus Labuschagne's partnership

But any momentum India got from that early period was shut off entirely by Labuschagne and Head. The pair put up 192 runs off 215 balls for the fourth wicket, with Head scoring 137 in 120 and Labuschagne ending the match unbeaten on 58 off 110. Head was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj when Australia needed two runs to win and new batter Glenn Maxwell came in and knocked those runs off the first ball that he faced.