AHMEDABAD: KL Rahul and Virat Kohli made gritty fifties but Australian bowlers produced a clinical show to bowl out India for a below-par 240 in the World Cup final here on Sunday.
Sent in to bat on a slow and dry pitch, skipper Rohit Sharma once again provided India a flying start with a 31-ball 47 but Australia fought back, snapping three wickets to reduce the hosts to 81 for 3.
Kohli (54) and Rahul (66) then tried to resurrect the Indian innings, adding 67 runs before Pat Cummins removed the former. It was a struggle thereafter, as India failed to find the boundaries.Suryakumar Yadav (18) also couldn't make a mark at the back end.
For Australia, Mitchell Starc (3/55) picked three wickets, while Pat Cummins (2/34), Josh Hazlewood (2/60), Glenn Maxwell (1/35) and Adam Zampa (1/44) were the other wicket-takers.
Brief Scores: India: 240 all out in 50 overs (KL Rahul 66, Virat Kohli 54; Mitchell Starc 3/55).
India : Rohit Sharma c Head b Maxwell 47 Shubman Gill c Zampa b Starc 4 Virat Kohli b Cummins 54 Shreyas Iyer c Inglis b Cummins 4 KL Rahul c Inglis b Starc 66 Ravindra Jadeja c Inglis b Hazlewood 9 Suryakumar Yadav c Inglis b Hazlewood 18 Mohammed Shami c Inglis b Starc 6 Jasprit Bumrah lbw b Zampa 1 Kuldeep Yadav run out (Labuschagne/Cummins) 10 Mohammed Siraj not out 9 Extras: (LB-3, W-9) 12 Total: (All out in 50 overs) 240 Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-76, 3-81, 4-148, 5-178, 6-203, 7-211, 8-214, 9-226, 10-240 Bowling: Mitchell Starc 10-0-55-3, Josh Hazlewood 10-0-60-2, Glenn Maxwell 6-0-35-1, Pat Cummins 10-0-34-2, Adam Zampa 10-0-44-1, Mitchell Marsh 2-0-5-0, Travis Head 2-0-4-0.