Pratidin Time
India take on Australia in the final of the ICC World Cup 2023 with the dreams of over a billion people on the line. Who will emerge victorious? We just can't keep calm...
The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium is known to favour batters, however, spinners often find support from the pitch. In the four World Cup matches played here, the chasing team won thrice.
While Australia has won 81 of the 150 ODIs played between the two teams, they also hold the upper hand in World Cups, where they won 8 out of the 13 matches against India. However, its the final, and all of that goes out of the window today.
India have found the perfect ingredients for success and dominated throughout the group stage.
India predicted line-up: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia faltered in the opening games, but picked up from their to make their way into the finals.
Australia predicted line-up: David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Inglis, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (C).
Practice sessions took place ahead of the summit clash. Few could argue that Team India don't need to train having maintained perfection throughout the World Cup. We hope they practiced lifting the trophy!
Almost every Indian is glued to their TV screens anticipating the team to lift the coveted World Cup trophy. However, Australia will have worked on plans to stop this juggernaut of a team. We hope they fail! *fingers crossed*
The man, the myth, the legend, and more. Virat Kohli just keeps on scoring runs. He now stands as the outright top scorer of the tournament and it is sure to end that way. He is also on course to be named the player of the tournament, but might find competition from another teammate. And who might that be?
Mohammed SHAMI
It's none other than Mohammed Shami. The World Cup's highest wicket-taker has wreaked havoc on batting line-ups. It's crazy to think he did not find a place in the team from the first match, yet managed to scale above all on the charts. Shami has 23 wickets in just six matches with a seven-wicket haul against New Zealand in the semi-final. Phew!
We hope it does. India vs Australia in a World Cup final sadly brings back painful memories. It was the Saurav Ganguly-led star-studded team that had faced Australia in the 2003 World Cup final. Unfortunately, that was not our night. We pray that it is not the case this time. Go India!