We gave it our everything: commitment, blood, sweat, but sadly for a billion Indian fans, the 2023 World Cup ends in tears as the mighty all-conquering Aussies roll on to win their sixth title.

On a tough pitch, the Men in Blue tried everything they could, but when the dew set in, and Australia dug in, it ended up being a case of so close, yet so far.

Here are consolidated highlights -

Hitman does a Hitman on the biggest stage

As done throughout the 2023 Cricket World Cup, Rohit Sharma gave India the perfect aggressive start they needed for their innings with his 31-ball 47. The spirited innings came at a time when the hosts saw Shubman Gill (4) depart early. Over the course of his knock, the Hitman would surpass Kane Williamson (578 runs, 2019 World Cup) for the most runs (597 runs) as a captain in a single CWC tournament.

KL, Virat anchor the ship

KL Rahul (66) and Virat Kohli (54) were among the key contributors to India’s march to the CWC 2023 final, and when the team were in some trouble against the confident Aussie bowling, the top-order batters let their big-match experience do the talking as they hit half-centuries respectively.

Target for Australia: 241

Suryakumar Yadav (18) and Kuldeep Yadav (10) played late cameos with the bat to guide India to a score of 240. With 1,32,000 shouting voices in the crowd, it was all down to Shami, BOOM BOOM to make early in-roads.

Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah brought smiles to the Indian cricket faithful with their respectable performances with the ball all through the tournament. And in true fashion, they caused early trouble to the Australian top order in the powerplay.

While Shami dismissed David Warner (7), Boom Boom claimed the wickets of Mitchell Marsh (15) and Steve Smith (4) inside his initial five overs.

Rahul surpasses a Rahul record

Be it with the bat or behind the sticks, KL Rahul has had a fantastic tournament so far. He added another feather to his cap as his caught dismissal of Mitchell Marsh (off Boom Boom) meant he surpassed Rahul Dravid (16 dismissals, 2003) for most by an Indian wicketkeeper in a World Cup. This was his 17th dismissal in CWC 2023.

Australia HEAD to a memorable finish

Travis Head (137) was the architect of Australia’s batting onslaught against the Indian bowler. With his century in the final, he joined Ricky Ponting (2003) and Adam Gilchrist (2007) as the third Aussie batter to notch up a hundred in a CWC final.

Fin.

Although India fell short of the finish line, one can’t take away how this team kept raising the bar of performances to ensure the World Cup dream stayed alive. Paltan, flood the comments and show your love to Rohit and the boys for giving us a rollercoaster ride of fantastic moments, breaking records and a sense of family in and out of the dressing room.

Brief scores: Australia 241/4 (Travis Head 137, Marnus Labuschagne 58*; Jasprit Bumrah 2/43) BEAT India 239 (KL Rahul 66, Virat Kohli 54, Rohit Sharma 47; Mitchell Starc 3/55) by six wickets.