Picture Credit: Twitter
The ODI World Cup 2023 saw Pat Cummins-led Australia win the title in a thriller on Sunday, 19th November 2023 comfortably by six wickets. After being invited to bat first, the Men in Blue posted 240/10 in the 50 overs with the help of decent knocks from skipper Rohit Sharma (47), Virat Kohli (54) and KL Rahul (66) as wickets kept falling at crucial intervals.
However, Australia, who entered the final on the back of eight consecutive wins in the CWC 2023, thumped their authority over the strong-looking Indian side with Travis Head playing a knock of the ages of 137 from 120 balls and a well-supported knock from Marnus Labuschagne (58* off 110). While amid Australia’s World Cup winning moments, an old tweet of late Australian great Shane Warne is doing rounds.
Reckoned as one of the best bowlers during his playing days, Shane Warne on December 6, 2016 had tweeted, “I’m a big fan of Travis Head as a cricketer, I believe he will be a future star for Australia in all form of the game @wwos!!”
However, Head missed the first five matches of the CWC 2023 in India due to an injury, but his returned boasted the Australian top order with the Aussie opener scoring a century against New Zealand in Dharamsala earlier. Head also finished as the leading run-getter for the now six-time champions in the semifinal against South Africa, followed by a Player of the Match performance in the final.
His Player of the Match award in the final has now made him the fourth player in ODI World Cup history after Mohinder Amarnath (1983), Aravinda de Silva (1996) and Shane Warne (1999) to win a POTM award in the semis as well as the final of the ODI World Cup. Additionally, the left-handed batter also became the third Australian and seventh batter overall to score a century in the ODI World Cup final.
