Star India cricketer left in shock after knowing why Australia bowled first in ODI World Cup 2023 final

Australia defeated India in the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The Men in Blue performed superbly in the mega competition, winning ten matches in a row. Rohit Sharma's side played fearless cricket in the whole tournament. The Aussies outplayed India in the final for the trophy for the sixth time. The Kangaroos are the most successful teams in the mega event as they have qualified for the final eight times, winning six of them. 

After the match, star India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was a part of the 2023 for India in the World Cup, shared his chat with the former Aussie skipper and current Australia chief selector George Bailey. He was left in shock after having a conversation with the former batter. Ashwin asked Bailey why they decided to bowl first in the all-important match, and his explanation left him in shock. 

India, batting first, scored 240 runs, with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul being the only two batters to score half-centuries. The former scored 54 runs, and Rahul scored 66 runs. In reply, Travis Head played a knock of 137 runs and made the chase look easy against the Men in Blue. 

I asked him why didn't you guys bat first like you always do: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, "Australia totally deceived me personally, I was checking whether the pitch is disintegrating at mid-innings and I met George Bailey. I asked him why didn't you guys bat first like you always do - he answered back, 'we have played IPL & Bilateral series here a lot - red soil disintegrates but not black soil & it gets better under lights - no impact on dew on red soil but black soil has good turn in afternoon & then it will be a concrete in night.' I was flabbergasted after that."

Both teams are meeting for the 5-match T20I series with the first match set to begin on Thursday at the Dr. Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. Suryakumar Yadav will be leading the two-time world champions for the first time in his career.