2023 Cricket World Cup final

The 2023 Cricket World Cup Final was a One Day International cricket match played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, on 19 November 2023 to determine the winner of the 2023 Cricket World Cup. It was played between host nation India and Australia. It was the first time that Ahmedabad hosted a Cricket World Cup final. It was the second time that India and Australia played a World Cup final against each other, after the 2003 final.

In the final, Australia defeated India to win a record-extending sixth World Cup title.

Background
The 2023 Cricket World Cup was hosted by India. Originally, the competition was to be played from 9 February to 26 March 2023 but due to getting longer qualification time it was moved to October to November. In July 2020, it was announced that the tournament would be moved to October and November as a result of the qualification schedule being disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ICC released the tournament schedule on 27 June 2023. Semi-finals were played in Mumbai and Kolkata while the final was held in Ahmedabad.

India secured a place in the final for the fourth time, after defeating New Zealand in the semi-final;. having won two (1983 against the West Indies and 2011 against Sri Lanka) and lost one (2003 to current finalist Australia)

Australia qualified for a record-extending eighth time in the final, after defeating South Africa in the semi-finals; having won five (1987 against England, 1999 against Pakistan, 2003 against current finalist India, 2007 against Sri Lanka, and 2015 against New Zealand) and lost two (1975 to the West Indies and 1996 to Sri Lanka).

It was the second time that India and Australia played a World Cup final against each other, the previous one being in 2003. None of the players from the squad of both teams were a part of that final, the only member who featured in that game was Rahul Dravid, India's head coach while there was no one from Australia's coaching staff and management being a part of 2003 final. However, there were 7 members from Australia's squad who were a part of the 2015 final that included David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood (who were a part of the playing XI in the 2015 final), Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh, while from Indian team only Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin had featured in a World Cup Final in 2011 and among the duo only Virat Kohli was a part of the playing XI in that final.

This match was the last One Day International (ODI) for Australian cricketer David Warner.

Route to the final
Each team played the other nine teams in the group stage; the top four teams advanced to the semi-finals.

Match officials
On 17 November 2023, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named England's Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough as the on-field umpires, with West Indies' Joel Wilson as the third umpire, New Zealand's Chris Gaffaney as the reserve umpire, and Zimbabwe's Andy Pycroft as match referee.

Kettleborough stood as the on-field umpire in the final for the second time, after 2015, while Illingworth, who played in the 1992 Cricket World Cup final, became the second person after Sri Lanka's Kumar Dharmasena to feature in the final of the World Cup as both a player and an umpire.


 * On-field umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Richard Kettleborough (Eng)
 * TV umpire: Joel Wilson (WI)
 * Reserve umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZ)
 * Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zim)

Teams and toss
Both teams remained unchanged from their semi-final matches. Australia won the toss and decided to field first.

India innings
India made a quick start to their innings, with captain Rohit Sharma hitting 47 from 31 balls, but then lost Shubman Gill, Rohit and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession to leave themselves 81/3. Virat Kohli and K. L. Rahul added 67 for the fourth wicket, before Kohli was out for 54. India continued to add runs slowly, but Rahul was dismissed for 66 to leave India 203/6, and the remaining batsmen were not able to score quickly, the innings ending when Kuldeep Yadav was dismissed from the last ball of the 50th over with the score on 240.

Australia innings
Australia made a poor start to their innings, losing three batsmen for 47 runs inside the first seven overs. However, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne then built a partnership, adding 192 runs in 36 overs; Australia were within two runs of victory when Head was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj for 137. Glenn Maxwell was the next batsman in, and hit the winning two runs off the next ball, to give Australia a 6-wicket victory.

Match details

 * 1st innings

Fall of wickets: 1/30 (Gill, 4.2 ov), 2/76 (Rohit, 9.4 ov), 3/81 (Iyer, 10.2 ov), 4/148 (Kohli, 28.3 ov), 5/178 (Jadeja, 35.5 ov), 6/203 (Rahul, 41.3 ov), 7/211 (Shami, 43.4 ov), 8/214 (Bumrah, 44.5 ov), 9/226 (Yadav, 47.3 ov), 10/240 (Kuldeep, 49.6 ov)


 * 2nd innings

Fall of wickets: 1/16 (Warner, 1.1 ov), 2/41 (Marsh, 4.3 ov), 3/47 (Smith, 6.6 ov), 4/239 (Head, 42.5 ov)

Broadcasting
The final match was broadcast live in India on Star Sports, free-to-air broadcaster DD Sports and free on OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar. In Australia the match was broadcast live on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and in free to air on Nine Network and it's OTT platform 9Now.

The ICC also named the following panel of elite commentators for the final: Harsha Bhogle, Ian Bishop, Aaron Finch, Sunil Gavaskar, Matthew Hayden, Mark Howard, Nasser Hussain, Dinesh Karthik, Sanjay Manjrekar, Eoin Morgan, Kass Naidoo, Ricky Ponting, Ravi Shastri, Ian Smith and Shane Watson.

Viewership
According to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data, the final was watched by 300 million people on TV, with a peak concurrence of 130 million, making it the most-watched cricket match on TV. Disney+Hotstar recorded a viewership of 59 million concurrent viewers, the most for any live sporting event on OTT platform. The final was live-viewed globally for 87.6 billion minutes cumulatively through all media, becoming the most-watched ICC match ever.

Closing ceremony
During the closing ceremony, a drone show was held along with huge fireworks. After this, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BCCI Secretary Jay Shah presented the World Cup trophy to Australia's captain Pat Cummins.

Aftermath
In the aftermath of the match, many supporters of the Indian team took to social media to troll and harass Australian players and their families. Some fans even sent death and rape threats directed at players and their families, resulting in many Australian players filing complaints with Cricket Australia.

Harbhajan Singh, a former player on the Indian team, condemned the trolls, saying "Reports of trolling of family members of Australian cricket players is completely in bad taste. We played well but lost the final to better cricket by the Aussies. That's it. Why troll the players and their families? Requesting all cricket fans to stop such behaviour. Sanity and dignity are more important".