Little chinks in India’s armour came to the fore in the World Cup final: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes the side’s little chinks in the armour and lack of the batting depth were brought to the fore during their six-wicket defeat in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup final against Australia.

In the final at Ahmedabad on November 19, Virat Kohli (54) shared a 67-run partnership with KL Rahul (66) after losing three wickets. But the duo never got the acceleration, due to a combination of Australia’s tight bowling and fielding, as well as of India’s tail starting from number eight.

“Well, India had certain limitations that they had covered beautifully throughout the tournament, with Jadeja at number 7 and their batting finishing at number 6. So India felt the pressure of not having depth; you know, those little chinks in India’s armor came to the fore. The batting depth wasn’t there, and you saw the way KL Rahul played a bulk of the innings with the knowledge that there isn’t much batting to come,” said Manjrekar to Star Sports.

From their league match against New Zealand at Dharamshala, India mainly played with a longish batting tail due to Hardik Pandya’s absence after being ruled out by a left ankle injury. That resulted in India, who were on a 10-match unbeaten streak, being bowled out for 240 in the final, which Australia chased down in 43 overs to win their sixth World Cup trophy.

Suryakumar Yadav was the designated finisher in Pandya’s absence in the playing eleven, but failed to get going in the final as India finished at a below-par total. Asked if the pressure of playing the finals had a part to play in India’s loss, Manjrekar remarked, “I’ve been focusing a lot on the difficulty factor, the slow pitch, and how difficult it was for KL Rahul and the others to get a move on because they didn’t have any wickets left in the bag.”

“Just imagine this game was a league match between Sri Lanka and India; would India have taken that risk? Maybe yes, that is where perhaps temperament comes in, and maybe if it was a league match, India would have played differently."