IND vs AUS, World Cup 2023: Revisiting 2003 final, that broke Indian hearts

A final that was billed as India's road to great glory as they could have ended Australia's winning run, turned out to be a game of David and Goliath in reality

India and Australia are going to be playing the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Sunday, November 19 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. But this is not the first time that these two teams have met in the final of an ODI World Cup. 20 years ago, in South Africa’s Johannesburg, Sourav Ganguly’s men were up against Ricky Ponting’s in the 2003 World Cup. 

Check India vs Australia final live score and match updates in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

Australia were the defending champions, however, it was supposed to be India’s best-ever chance since 1983 to win a World Cup as both Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were in the best of their batting form. 

The toss-call that gets questioned in every World Cup 

India skipper Sourav Ganguly won the toss and on a bright sunny morning, opted to field first. The call, which is still debated today and most of the time is called a wrong one was made on the pretext of getting early purchase from a wicket that remained under covers till early morning on match day. Mixed with it was also the fact that India had been bundled out for 125 earlier in a group-stage game in that very World Cup by the Aussies.

Check India vs Australia final live full scorecard here

The powerful start by Hayden and Gilchrist 

There was no purchase for the Indian bowlers as they did not bowl the length to get a purchase. Short most of the time, the trio of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Javagal Srinath were taken to the cleaners by Aussie openers Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. They added 105 for the first wicket with Gilchrist going on to hit a fifty. 

The Ricky Ponting show 

After the fall of the openers, Australian captain Ricky Ponting walked in alongside Damien Martyn and the pair didn’t get out. They added 234 in only 181 balls to take Australia to their then-highest ODI score of 359/2 in 50 overs. Ponting hit a magnificent hundred, scoring 140 in just 121 balls to put huge pressure on the Indian side. 

Martyn and Ponting didn’t give any chance to the Indian bowlers. While Ponting targeted the spinners by using his feet, Martyn was able to hit pacers for six over covers, which in 2003 was a huge task to even attempt, let alone getting success in it. 

World Cup: India vs Australia 2003 final full scorecard

Australia (50 ovs maximum)
BATTING	Dismissals	R	B	M	4s	6s	SR
Adam Gilchrist †	c Sehwag b Harbhajan Singh	57	48	66	8	1	118.75
Matthew Hayden	c †Dravid b Harbhajan Singh	37	54	93	5	0	68.51
Ricky Ponting (c)	not out	140	121	138	4	8	115.7
Damien Martyn	not out	88	84	112	7	1	104.76
Extras	(b 2, lb 12, nb 7, w 16)	37
TOTAL	50 Ov (RR: 7.18, 205 Mins)	359/2
BOWLING	O	M	R	W	ECON	0s	4s	6s	WD	NB
Zaheer Khan	7	0	67	0	9.57	19	5	2	6	2
Javagal Srinath	10	0	87	0	8.7	27	9	3	2	3
Ashish Nehra	10	0	57	0	5.7	30	2	2	3	0
Harbhajan Singh	8	0	49	2	6.12	23	3	2	0	0
Virender Sehwag	3	0	14	0	4.66	6	0	0	0	0
Sachin Tendulkar	3	0	20	0	6.66	6	2	0	1	0
Dinesh Mongia	7	0	39	0	5.57	21	2	1	0	2
Yuvraj Singh	2	0	12	0	6	4	1	0	0	0
India (T: 360 runs from 50 ovs)
BATTING	Dismissals	R	B	M	4s	6s	SR
Sachin Tendulkar	c & b McGrath	4	5	2	1	0	80
Virender Sehwag	run out (Lehmann)	82	81	107	10	3	101.23
Sourav Ganguly (c)	c Lehmann b Lee	24	25	44	3	1	96
Mohammad Kaif	c †Gilchrist b McGrath	0	3	4	0	0	0
Rahul Dravid †	b Bichel	47	57	87	2	0	82.45
Yuvraj Singh	c Lee b Hogg	24	34	48	1	0	70.58
Dinesh Mongia	c Martyn b Symonds	12	11	18	2	0	109.09
Harbhajan Singh	c McGrath b Symonds	7	8	12	0	0	87.5
Zaheer Khan	c Lehmann b McGrath	4	8	20	0	0	50
Javagal Srinath	b Lee	1	4	6	0	0	25
Ashish Nehra	not out	8	4	7	2	0	200
Extras	(b 4, lb 4, nb 4, w 9)	21
TOTAL	39.2 Ov (RR: 5.94, 180 Mins)	234
BOWLING	O	M	R	W	ECON	0s	4s	6s	WD	NB
Glenn McGrath	8.2	0	52	3	6.24	27	4	2	0	0
Brett Lee	7	1	31	2	4.42	33	5	0	2	4
Brad Hogg	10	0	61	1	6.1	30	4	2	2	0
Darren Lehmann	2	0	18	0	9	5	3	0	0	0
Andy Bichel	10	0	57	1	5.7	28	5	0	4	0
Andrew Symonds	2	0	7	2	3.5	7	0	0	1	0

India’s horrid start 

Instead of recovering from the horrid show in the field, India slumped into misery when they lost their best batter- Sachin Tendulkar- in the first over itself. Trying to repeat the pull shot which got him a four earlier in the over, Sachin was caught and bowled by Glenn McGrath for four. He could add only four more to his gigantic total of 678 runs in the previous 10 matches. 

Sehwag put respectability in India’s chase 

After Sahcin’s dismissal, half the Indian supporters rushed back to their hotel rooms, while the other half were stopped by terrific batting from Sehwag who hit some stupendous shots on his way to 82 off 81 balls. His innings was cut short by lazy running on his part and a direct throw from Darren Lehmann. 

Meek surrender from the rest

After the fall of Sehwag’s wicket, it was a meek surrender by the rest of the Indian batters from there onwards. India kept chasing the game and never reached the target, getting all-out for 234 in the 40th over and losing the final by an embarrassingly high margin of 125 runs.

WATCH: India vs Australia 2003 final highlights