Australia won the World Cup for a record-extending sixth time on Sunday after they beat hosts and favourites India in the final in Ahmedabad. India were dominant going into the final, winning all 10 of the matches that they played by big margins, but were completely outplayed by a clinical Australian side. This was the fourth time India reached the final of the World Cup and the second time that they lost, having previous lost to Australia as well in 2003.
An unfortunate development since the result on Sunday has been the appearance of several crass comments on the social media posts of Australian players and their families, including rape and death threats. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was part of the team that won the World Cup in 2011, has now spoken out against the abuse. “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,” he said on X.
Such comments could be seen on the posts of wives of players like Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell among others. Maxwell’s wife Vini Raman called out those metting out the abuse “…aaaaand cue all the hateful vile DMs. Stay classy. Can’t believe this needs to be said BUT you can be Indian and also support the country of your birth where you have been raised and more importantly the team your husband plus father of your child plays in #nobrainer. Take a chill pill and direct that outrage towards more important world issues,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Head emerged as the hero for Australia in the semi-final and the final while Maxwell was crucial with the ball for Australia in the two matches. He also played what has since been referred to as one of the greatest ODI innings of all time against Afghanistan, smashing an unbeaten 201 off 128 balls and taking Australia to victory in a chase of 293 despite being 91/7 at one point. Maxwell was besieged by cramps and smashed his way to the target despite not being able to move his feet for the last quarter of his innings.
Maxwell took the big wicket of India captain Rohit Sharma in the final, which pretty much ended the brief phase of domination India enjoyed batting first. Head, meanwhile, scored 132 off 120 balls in a 192-run partnership with Marnus Labuschagne to lead Australia’s chase and Maxwell himself scored the winning runs.
