Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in his post-match press conference after their semi-final win over New Zealand stated that they needed to be 'calm'. He said, "Again, for us, it was important to stay calm. At one point, the crowd went absolutely silent, that's the nature of the game. But we knew that we had to pull something up from our sleeves and need a magic, either a good catch or a run out or maybe a magic delivery. But we tried everything we couldn't [break through], but again, [Mohammed] Shami was brilliant." (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Sharma's 'calm' talk reveals everything one needs to know about this current Indian team's mentality as they look claim their third World Cup title after 1983 and 2011 triumphs. The current lot look so calm and composed despite being under pressure and it was visible during their league game match against the very same oppositions in Chennai when they were 2/3. But KL Rahul and Virat Kohli put up a fighting partnership to pull the Men In Blue out of trouble and claim an important win.
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Over the years, Indian team would be riled and sledged by their Aussie counterparts but off late, and one could attribute to Virat Kohli, India have learnt to give it back to the Kangaroos and also have claimed important wins over them.
20 years back, India faced Ricky Ponting's Australia in Johannesburg and the Aussie skipper played a splendid knock as the Men In Yellow hammered Sourav Ganguly-led side by 125 runs. However, forward it to 2023, Team India face the same opposition albeit having home advantage and more than 1,32,000 vociferous fans backing them to win in Ahmedanad.
Australian skipper Pat Cummins looked to have let out a warcry as he readies his troops for the all-important final. "The stadium is going to be packed, pretty one-sided but got to embrace it.
"The good thing is a few of us have been there for finals before. The 2015 World Cup was a career highlight, so to be out there in a final in India, can't wait," Cummins said in his post-match interview after their three-wicket win over South Africa in the second semi-final in Kolkata on Thursday.
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His Aussie compatriot Mitchell Starc too stated that playing in the final is all about the being the 'best'.
He said, "That's why we play the game, we take on the best, they've been the best in the tournament so far, and that's why we find oursleves in the final. That's what World Cups are about. It's a big occasion, a World Cup final. Both teams played each other in the Test final earlier this year, so I don't think either change room is new to big occasions. It's going to be loud and passionate, and it's just going to be a great spectacle and everyone in our changeroom look forward to the occasion."
India and Australia have met 13 times in the ODI World Cup games with the latter winning eight of them to India's five. India's last victory over Australia came in the 2019 World Cup where the Men In Blue beat them by 36 runs at The Oval, London.
Within a span of six months, these two meet again in an ICC tournament final albeit in coloured clothing. Back in June, Australia were at their very best in the ICC World Test Championship final as they ended up winning by a massive 209 runs. India would hope that history doesn't repeat itself as they look to extract revenge at the Narendra Modi Stadium on 'Super Sunday'.
Squads
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Inglis (wk), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin.
