Ruthless Australia showed their class and dominance in the knockout stages of an International Cricket Council event yet again and clinched another World Cup title, sixth in total, to prove why they are the best team in 50-over cricket over the last few decades.
It was heartbreak for billions of Indian fans as the men in blue failed to conquer the last frontier which could have been a perfect finish for them in front of their home crowd in the biggest stadium of the world in Ahmedabad.
It was a tough pill to swallow for India as they won 10 out of 10 games convincingly before the final, but were not able to continue their brilliant run of form in the last hurdle.
Throughout the tournament, India’s modern-day greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma rose to the occasion along with the in-form batting line-up and world-class bowling attack, but it was Australia who had the last laugh with an all-round performance in the grand finale.
Australia bowlers were on the money right till the very end to restrict India for just 240 and the Aussie fielders were electric all through the innings to heap more pressure on the opposition batters.
The first 10 overs of the chase was shaky as Australia tried to be aggressive and lost three important wickets.
Pace bowling duo Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were breathing fire but Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne held their nerve and halted the onslaught.
Head then produced a masterclass of counter-attacking innings, smashing a magnificent knock of 137.
In the process, the opening batter entered the elite group of World Cup final centurions after Clive Lloyd (102 in 1975), Sir Viv Richards (138* in 1979), Aravinda de Silva (107* in 1996), Ricky Ponting (140* in 2003), Adam Gilchrist (149 in 2007) and Mahela Jayawardene (103* in 2011).
Labuschagne was rock solid and an unsung hero at the other end as he played a crucial 58-run innings and formed a 192-run partnership with Head which guided Australia home for their sixth World Cup title.
It was a perfect summer for Australian cricket as they retained the Ashes, clinched the World Test Championship and have now won the World Cup in the same year.
Thus skipper Pat Cummins joined an esteemed group of Australian captains who have won the World Cup, namely Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ponting and Michael Clarke.
Head was adjudged man of the final for his match-winning 137 off 120 and Kohli the player of the series for his 765 runs at an average of 95.62 in 11 innings.
Shami finished as the highest wicket-taker with 24 in just seven innings while Australia’s Adam Zampa was second in the list with 23 scalps as he equalled the record of Muttiah Muralidaran for most wickets by a spinner in a World Cup edition.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s campaign was a disaster as they lost seven matches out of nine, and all of their defeats were by big margins.
The team had high hopes before the World Cup but neither the batters nor the bowlers performed as per expectations.
Although Bangladesh won the high-tempered clash against Sri Lanka, the major talking point of that game was the timed out dismissal of Angelo Mathews which was appealed by Tigers skipper Shakib al Hasan.
It remained a topic of discussion throughout the tournament.
Defending champions England also had a disastrous World Cup as they emerged victorious on only three occasions out of nine.
England’s powerful batting line-up that redefined the style of play in One Day International cricket looked clueless and underperformed, although Ben Stokes did play some important knocks in the latter stages to save their blushes furthermore.
South Africa looked dangerous in the group stage and became a title contender with their powerful batting line-up as Quinton de Kock, playing his last ODI World Cup, struck four centuries.
But all of their efforts went in vain at the semi-final stage once again as they were outplayed by Australia in Kolkata.
New Zealand won their first four games in style and made their announcement as one of the contenders early on but lost the next four before eventually qualifying in the last group stage tie.
Rachin Ravindra was the breakout star for the Kiwis as the young all-rounder scored 578 runs with three hundreds from 10 innings.
But they were undone by dominant India in Mumbai in the semi-final where Kohli smashed his record 50th ODI hundred, leapfrogging the legendary Sachin Tendulkar to become the highest centurion in ODI history.
Pakistan had a below par campaign as they were thumped by arch-rivals India in the much-anticipated encounter in Ahmedabad and later failed to progress to the semis.
Poor displays from the team paved the way for heavy criticism and eventually Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy from all formats.
Afghanistan were impressive throughout the tournament as they defeated heavyweights like England and Pakistan and also recorded comprehensive wins over Sri Lanka and the Netherlands.
They were well on course towards last four progression and on verge of sealing one of the best wins in their cricket history when they reduced mighty Australia to 91 for seven while defending 291.
But a superhuman effort from Glenn Maxwell, who registered one of the best ODI innings of all time, handed them defeat as the Aussie clubbed a breathtaking 201 not out off 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes.
Afghans finished at sixth in the points table but exhibited their improvement in white-ball cricket, putting up admirable fight in the global stage.
The Dutch were also impressive as an associate nation, stunning South Africa and Bangladesh in the league phase to set their mark in the world stage, while Sri Lanka had a nightmare of a journey placing ninth among 10 teams.
The scenario looked intense in the latter stage of the World Cup when it was revealed by the ICC that the top eight teams including hosts Pakistan will qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy and thus every game became important for teams who were out of the race for the semi-finals.
All the 10 venues across India had good pitches overall as the 48-game tournament produced excellent competition between bat and ball.
Either for a bowler or a batsman, there was assistance for everyone as both pacers and spinners took plenty of wickets, while batters got bagful of runs as well.
All told, it was a captivating contest between willow and cherry and the pitches produced a contest for both the parties in almost every game.
There were murmurs before the grand event that this could be the last Word Cup in 50-over format as ODIs might be dying and becoming boring in the era of Twenty20 cricket.
But the amount of excitement on show in almost every game during this one and a half month long tournament, it could be said ODI cricket is still amusing for fans and shall continue to be so.
To truly sum up the direction ODI cricket is headed towards, take a look at what World Cup winning captain Cummins said after the final in the press conference:
“I must say, maybe because we won, but I did fall in love with ODI again this World Cup. I think the scenario where every game really matters, it does mean a bit different to just a bilateral. The ODI World Cup has such a rich history. There were so many wonderful games, so many wonderful stories within this last couple of months (in this World Cup). I'm sure it's going to be around for a long time.”