India captain Rohit Sharma admitted his team were “not good enough” after slumping to a six-wicket loss to Australia in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
The hosts, who came in undefeated into the title clash with 10 wins, were bowled out for 240, a total Australia overhauled in 43 overs with Travis Head smashing 137 in Ahmedabad.
The result shattered India’s dreams of ending a global title drought stretching back to the 2013 Champions Trophy.
“I mean the result hasn’t gone our way and we know that we were not good enough on the day. But proud of the team,” Rohit said after the loss.
“It wasn’t supposed to be. Honestly, 20-30 more runs would’ve been good. I thought when KL [Rahul] and Virat [Kohli] were batting, we were looking at 270-280 at that point and we kept losing wickets.”
Rohit hit a quickfire 47 before Australia hit back with wickets and bowled out the hosts in 50 overs despite fifties from Kohli (54) and Rahul (66).
Australia slipped to 47-3, but the left-handed Travis Head stood firm and put on 192 runs with Marnus Labuschagne, who made an undefeated 58.
“With 240 on the board, we wanted early wickets but credit to Travis Head and Marnus,” said Rohit.
“They put us completely out of the game and I thought the wicket got better to bat under lights. I mean we knew under lights, it would be better but don’t want to give that as an excuse.”
HIGHLIGHTS: India vs Australia (2023 CWC final)
Meanwhile, India coach Rahul Dravid said Rohit had batted superbly and “led the team fantastically well” despite the final defeat.
“I think he has been an exceptional leader. Rohit has really led this team fantastically well,” Dravid told reporters.
“Just think he has given so much of his time and energy in the dressing room with the boys. He is always been available for any of our conversations.
“His batting as well, it was fantastic. It set the tone for us. We knew we wanted to play a certain way, a positive attacking brand of cricket and he was committed to doing that. He wanted to lead by example and all through the tournament he was quite superb.
“Obviously a tough day in the office,” he added. “Ran a really good campaign, really proud of the boys the way we played right through this tournament.
“We gave everything we had in this tournament. Just with the last step of the campaign we probably didn’t have a nice game. My congratulations to Australia, they played really well.”
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