The crowd of over 40,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, mostly Indians, must have known that fireworks were in order.
After all, Australia is the world’s top ranked one-day international team, while India are the defending champions of the Cricket World Cup.
But Australia were the better team on the day it mattered—and how.
After winning the toss, the Australian batting lineup, led by their captain-in-waiting Steven Smith, took apart India’s bowlers. It was only in the second half of the innings that the Indians were able to stage a bit of a comeback.
Eventually, the Green Baggies scored a mammoth total of 329—the highest semi-final score in the tournament’s 40-year-old history.
And then, India’s famed batting line up tried to fire up, faltered and then entirely failed.
Barring India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, no other batsmen could score even a half-century in the game and India lost by 95 runs. This was India’s first loss in the entire World Cup.
And so, India will have to hand their world cup—to either Australia or New Zealand—and wait for another four years before trying to claim it back.