Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne thought they wouldn’t even be at this tournament, let alone starring with a 192-run partnership that helped guide Australia to their sixth World Cup title in Ahmadabad on Sunday.

“Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought I was going to be here,” Head said after scoring 137 from 120 balls. His second century of the tournament included 15 fours and four sixes.

Head thought he was out of the World Cup when he suffered a broken hand in South Africa a fortnight out from the showpiece event.

And Labuschagne, who played the anchor role with 58 not out from 110 balls, believes his precarious survival in the one-day team came down to divine intervention from the time he replaced Cameron Green as a concussion sub in the pre-World Cup tour of South Africa.

“I’m a man of faith, and the way the last 19 games have gone, there’s no way I can give the credit to anyone else but the man above honestly,” stated Labuschagne who believed he was dropped for five times unofficially, but saved by the players' injuries or unavailability. He added, “It was only for the last two games I have been in the team with a fully fit squad,” he said.

Labuschagne was in doubt about getting into the first eleven even on the night before the final. He described his feelings while speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald. He stated, "The team had not been announced till 10 at night. I was sitting on my bed actually thinking about how can I add value if I was not playing. Maybe fielding or on the bench, what can I do to help, and then at quarter past ten the message came through, and it just said ‘same team, good luck guys’. So that was a bit of relief.”

Long before he put India to the sword with his bat, Head had changed the game in the field, running back from cover to take a diving catch to dismiss India captain Rohit Sharma. The home team’s skipper was running rampant, having scored 47 in 31 balls.

“I don’t know what I can’t believe more, what happened with the hundred and winning a World Cup, or taking that catch,” Head said. “It was an important wicket, but I didn’t think I was going to get there at first. “It started to spin back to me a little bit and yeah, one of those things, I held on to it. Thank God I did because Rohit is obviously an unbelievable player, and he is very threatening in that situation.”

Captain Pat Cummins described Head’s performance as “phenomenal”.

“A lot of credit should also go to coach Andrew McDonald and chairman of selectors George Bailey and the selectors to take a punt. He had a broken hand for the half of the tournament, but to keep him in the squad was a huge risk.

"And the medical team were fantastic to get him into a place where he could perform. So that was a big risk. I think we could have been made to look really silly if that didn't pay off, but you got to take those risks to win a tournament.

Cummins confirmed that Labuschagne was originally the victim of the team’s more attacking approach when he was left out of the initial World Cup squad.