World Cup 2023 Final: 'Lot of emotions in Indian dressing room. Tough to see as a coach' — Rahul Dravid

Team India was the overwhelming favourite for the Cricket World Cup 2023 final against Australia, but the five-time champions, Australia, stunned the home team and fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday to clinch their record-extending sixth title. In the high-stakes match, Australia were that much more clinical than India. Aussies bowlers and fielders kept the pressure on from the very start and bowled out India for just 240.

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In reply, Indian bowlers tried their best and also took three wickets in the powerplay but it wasn’t enough as Australia won the final by six wickets with Travis Head making 137. It was an emotional defeat for a team that had played with great passion over the last month and a half to reach the final.

India pacer Mohammed Siraj was in tears after his team failed to clinch their third ODI world title. There were other Indian players as well who were emotionally down after the crushing defeat.

India coach Rahul Dravid spoke about the dressing room scenes in the post-match press conference. The former captain, who led the 2007 team which witnessed a shock exit from the World Cup in that year, revealed that “there were a lot of emotions in that dressing room”.

“Yeah, of course, he’s (Rohit Sharma) disappointed, as are many boys in the dressing room. It wasn’t, yeah, there were a lot of emotions in that dressing room. It was tough to see as a coach, because I know how hard these guys have worked, what they’ve put in, the sacrifices they’ve made,” Dravid said.

“So, it’s tough. I mean, it’s tough to see that as a coach, because you get to know these boys personally. You get to see the effort they put in, the hard work that we’ve put in over the last month, the kind of cricket we’ve played. But yeah, but that’s sport. That happens. It can happen. And the better team won on the day. And I’m sure that the sun will come up tomorrow morning. We’ll learn from it. We’ll reflect. And we’ll move on, as will everyone else.

Dravid added that the team will eventually move on from the defeat in the final, but the experience will help them become better.

“I mean, that’s what you do as sportsmen. You have some great highs in sport, and you have some lows in sport. And you keep moving on. You don’t stop. Because if you don’t put yourself on the line, you don’t put yourself in games like these, you don’t experience the great highs. And neither do you experience the great lows. And if you don’t do that, you don’t learn.”