Australia stun India in final to win World Cup

afr.com:

Travis Head has produced an innings for the ages to lead Australia to a sixth Cricket World Cup crown, beating India by six wickets in the final.

Chasing 241 for victory in Ahmedabad on Sunday (Monday AEDT), Head hit 137 to help lead Australia out of early trouble and to a comfortable win with seven overs to spare over the previously-undefeated hosts.

His runs came as part of a 192-run fourth-wicket stand with Marnus Labuschagne, who struck a controlled 58 off 110 by turning the strike over and letting Head star.

The pair’s composure was crucial, with Australia teetering on the brink of a collapse at 3-47 when Steve Smith failed to review a Jasprit Bumrah lbw from a ball that hit him outside off.

Together, Head and Labuschagne were able to wrestle back control of the match by regularly finding singles and never being tied down against the spinners.

Getting desperate, India brought back Bumrah and Mohammad Shami in the 24th and 28th overs.

Both times, Head responded by hitting the first deliveries of their spells to the rope and taking any tension out of the situation.

The left-hander brought up his hundred off 95 balls, accelerating as the innings went on and taking complete command of the match.

Regularly targeted with short balls by India’s bowlers, Head swatted them away at will to the legside boundary.

He also slog-swept both Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yavav for sixes, hitting four in total as well as 15 fours.

Head was eventually caught on the boundary trying to bludgeon the winning runs, allowing Glenn Maxwell to take the crowning moment with a pull shot to the legside on his first ball.

Australia’s 1999 triumph is widely considered the most remarkable of their World Cup wins, after overcoming a sluggish start to