November 19, 2023. A day burned into the memories of Indian cricket fans for the worst of reasons. The day when a billion hearts were broken was when the globe witnessed the powerful Indian Cricket Team succumb to the mightier Australians in the final of the 32023 ICC ODI Globe Cup.

Glenn Maxwell’s winning runs helped Australia lift the World Cup trophy for the sixth time. Pat Cummins and Co. raced out to the park after Maxwell completed the double and celebrated their title success in front of 92,453 fans.

It is a loss that, to this day, baffles admirers and followers alike. How could a seemingly indestructible team, who got into the finals on the back of an undefeated streak, lose it all in the penultimate step? Did the hosts allow the heat of the moment to get to them? Did they just cave in mentally?

Well, as former England skipper Michael Vaughan observed, it was not a matter of India faltering or succumbing to the strain, but rather Australia withstanding it considerably better than the hosts.

‘They controlled the whole World Cup. I don’t think they could have played any better then. In the final versus Australia, well, sometimes you have to give the opposite team a big amount of credit,” stated Vaughan in conversation with popular Youtube personality Ranveer Allahabadia, also known as ‘BeerBiceps’, in a recent episode of ‘The Ranveer Show’.

Vaughan also poured admiration on the ‘genius’ of Australia skipper Pat Cummins, who, in his opinion, exhibited the best leadership he’s ever observed on an occasion as significant as the final.

“I thought Pat Cummins, individually and as a team player, was a genius that week. The way that he spoke to the press, indicating that he wanted to quiet the Ahmedabad crowd down and decided to bowl after winning the toss, was a tactical brilliance move. He led the team as well as I’ve seen an individual lead a team in a big game.”

But, despite Australia’s dominance, Vaughan did, in fact, feel that there was one particular moment during the match that changed the tide for Australia: the dismissal of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.

There was pin-drop calm at the Narendra Modi Stadium as India lost their skipper Rohit and Iyer in short succession. From 76/1, they were reduced to 81/3 in lightning-quick time, which triggered the eventual collapse of the Indian batting order, which could only scrape up a meager 240 runs in their innings.