🏏 ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Grand Finale : India vs Australia 🏏

Expectations are high, efforts are on par, and successes have been exhilarating thus far! Now that it's the final day, there's a smile here and a raised eyebrow there, but there's so much anticipation everywhere!

The excitement is palpable, and the last thing we do is hoping for the best.

That is the story so far!!

Now let's watch today's interesting match between two highly aggressive contenders!

🏏 ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Grand Finale : India vs Australia 🏏

As the two-time champions India set their eyes on a third title and second on home soil, formidable Australia and the five-time champions stood in their way.

It is the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, and hosts India are up against five-time champions Australia. The Indians have been on a dream run and defeated New Zealand in the first semifinal in a high-scoring contest.

The Australians held their nerves and edged out South Africa in a thrilling contest in the 2nd semifinal. The two sides have been the best teams in the tournament, coming in with ten and eight consecutive wins. Both teams will look to fight it out in the middle.

The Indians haven't put a foot wrong in the tournament, winning all their games' en route to the final. Their top order has dominated in all the matches, and the bowling attack has troubled all opponents.

The Australians bring out the best on the big stage and have players who can take on the Indians man-to-man. The stakes are high, and so will be the pressure. The side that holds its nerves will win this game.

Sharma and his men would look to use the home advantage and win their third title.

The Indian Captain has provided terrific starts to the team and will look to do the same in the company of Shubman Gill in the biggest game of his life.

Virat Kohli has been in excellent form with 711 runs, and he will look to deliver his best in the middle order with Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, who have also been among the runs in the last two games. Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja add firepower to this batting line-up, and they will look to take on the Aussie bowlers.

The Indian bowlers felt the pressure in the last game. The lack of bowling depth is a worry for the side. They would like to see early wickets from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj to put the Aussies under pressure.

Mohammad Shami has had a dream tournament with three fifers and would like to use this rhythm best. Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja shall look to exploit the conditions in Ahmedabad and trouble the batters with their variations.

Pat Cummins will feel confident after the thrilling 3-wicket win against South Africa in the semifinal in Kolkata. His side was put under the mat for some time with a spirited bowling performance by the South Africans, but the Aussies played like Aussies, holding their nerves and making it to the final for the eighth time.

They defeated India in 2003 final, and Cummins and his players would look to do the same at Ahmedabad.

David Warner has made 528 runs in the tournament and will look to do well at the top with last game's star, Travis Head. Mitchell Marsh is in good form and must do well in the middle order with Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Josh Inglis played a vital knock in the semifinal, and he will look to add runs in the lower middle order with Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, and Pat Cummins.

The Australian bowling attack has hit form at the right time. A splendid show from them against the South Africans brought them to the final. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood hit good lines in the previous game, and they must do the same against India's strong batting. Adam Zampa has claimed 22 wickets already and will look to do well in the middle overs with Cummins. Maxwell and Travis Head add strength to this bowling attack.

Tag Credit: Sutapasima

India Predicted Playing XI:

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.

Australia Predicted Playing XI:

Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood .

Weather Conditions : There will be clear skies over Ahmedabad on November 19, and we expect a warm evening. The wicket is two-paced, and batsmen who get their eyes set on it can do well. Spinners enjoy the conditions at this venue. The side batting first in this game will be happy to have 320 plus runs to feel comfortable.

Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, has a flat surface and a fast outfield. The batsmen have done well here by rotating the strike and building their innings. Fast bowlers must rely on their variations to earn rewards on this surface. Spinners get a lot from the surface as the ball turns and stops on the batsmen.

Toss: To Bat

The batting conditions will be best in the first innings, and we expect the spinners to turn the ball in the second half. Batting under lights will be challenging as the ball will seam a lot. The side that wins the toss won't hesitate to bat first in this game.

Both of the semi-finals in this year’s men’s Cricket World Cup saw dominant first innings performances that ultimately took the game beyond reach for the losers. India’s merciless batting display, which was anchored by a record-breaking century from Virat Kohli (117), saw the hosts score 93 more runs (397/4) than we predicted as they elevated their win probability from 57% to 91%.

In the other semi, Australia’s bowling performance in the first innings was the difference, with South Africa reeling on 24/4 before David Miller (101) rescued some faint hopes.

However, despite Miller’s heroics, the Proteas’ chances of winning still plummeted from 42% pre-match to 11% at the innings break.

Both New Zealand and South Africa fought hard to rescue a victory, but they’d left themselves too big a mountain to climb, and old rivals India and Australia set up a mouth-watering finale to the 2023 men’s Cricket World Cup.

Amazingly, this will be the eighth men’s ODI between India and Australia in 2023; India have won four of those clashes (L3), including a six-wicket victory when they met earlier in this tournament.

The two sides have a long history in the men’s ODI World Cup. In recent clashes, it is India who have held the upper hand, having won three of their last four matches against Australia in the competition, including each of their last two.

Australia are a different beast at this stage of proceedings, though, trophy tunnel-vision is firmly engaged. They have won five ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup finals (L2), three more than any other team, and they have won each of the last four times they’ve reached the final.

Meanwhile, India have won two of their three men’s ODI World Cup finals (L1), including a six-wicket victory in their most recent appearance (2011 vs Sri Lanka); although, their one defeat in that span come to their only such fixture against Australia (23 March 2003).

The Indian juggernaut is going to be hard to stop as the hosts aim for a first title in 12 years, but the Aussies have the firepower and the craftiness to do just that if they can keep their heads.

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Route to the Final

India:

• Beat Australia by 6 wickets
• Beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets
• Beat Pakistan by 7 wickets
• Beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets
• Beat New Zealand by 4 wickets
• Beat England by 100 runs
• Beat Sri Lanka by 302 runs
• Beat South Africa by 243 runs
• Beat Netherlands by 160 runs
• SF: Beat New Zealand by 70 runs

Australia:

• Lost to India by 134 runs
• Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
• Beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets
• Beat Pakistan by 62 runs
• Beat Netherlands by 309 runs
• Beat New Zealand by 5 runs
• Beat England by 33 runs
• Beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets
• Beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets
• SF: Beat South Africa by 3 wickets
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Key Players

Virat Kohli has relatively quietly had probably the best ever men’s Cricket World Cup campaign any batter has ever managed. Although he maybe hasn’t shown the fireworks that some of his teammates and indeed opponents have offered, his consistency and dependency has been otherworldly.

Across his 10 innings at this World Cup so far, he has amassed 711 runs, passing 50 eight times and pushing three of those knocks to triple figures, the last of which was his record-breaking 50th ODI ton, in which he passed the legendary Sachin Tendulkar (49). He is the first batter to ever surpass 700 runs in an edition of the men’s Cricket World Cup and his average of 101.6 exemplifies his consistency.

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For Australia, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell have all starred with the bat at different junctures and in very different ways. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith have maybe under performed from their usually very high standards, but the Aussies’ wagging tail has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion.

Batters 8-11 for Australia have faced 402 deliveries at this World Cup. Of the other sides to make the semi finals only South Africa (259) come remotely close to that tally. In fact, the Indian tail has faced just 49 balls, something that highlights the strength of their top and middle order but also points to a potential threat if Australia’s bowlers can get into their lower order as they’ve hardly spent any time in the middle all World Cup.

Talking of bowlers, this final will be a showdown between Mohammed Shami (23) and Adam Zampa (22) for title of leading wicket taker at the 2023 men’s Cricket World Cup. Both had contrasting fortunes in the semis, Shami taking a marvellous seven-fer, while Zampa got carted around for 55 runs from his seven overs without taking a wicket.

Shami’s haul of 23 wickets has come from just 41.5 overs at an average of just 9.1 and strike rate of 10.9, both remarkable numbers. Another number that has been critical to India’s success, and indeed Shami’s capacity to bowl so aggressively, is Jasprit Bumrah’s economy rate of 3.98. He’s the only bowler to play more than one game and manage a rate below 4.1.

This game is so hard to call that our win predictor has the sides almost perfectly matched (50.6% in favour of India). India have definitely been the most consistent side of the tournament, and maybe any men’s Cricket World Cup ever, but Australia have something not many other teams do, an insatiable winning attitude and stubbornness to never know when they’re beaten. An intriguing clash of styles and mentalities, all of which will be played out in front of a raucous home crowd for India.

India vs Australia Prediction

Win prediction: India 50.6% – Australia 49.4%

Score prediction (assumes side wins toss and bats first): India – 299, Australia – 297

The pressure of the occasion is one of the biggest obstacles in India's way, particularly if it gets tight. India's dominance has been such that they have not really been significantly tested at any stage in the tournament

When chasing they have always had at least four wickets in hand, while only New Zealand have got within 100 runs of a total posted by the Indian battling lineup.

Australia's task therefore is to silence the crowd and get some nerves jangling, as the Black Caps were able to do to a degree in their semi-final clash before falling short.

The key battle will come at the top of the order - the likes of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood must stop Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli getting off to a flyer.

Even if they do though, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are in sparkling form, and that firepower is backed up by an Indian attack that has everything. The hosts can enjoy their crowning moment.

The Men in Blue are the only undefeated side in the tournament, and the Aussies are on an 8-match win streak after losing their first two matches. Both teams will try their best to add another prestigious title to their trophy cabinet.

Several players that stepped down the 80-odd stairs from the dressing rooms nestled high up beyond the sight screen and onto the sprawling oval of the Narendra Modi Stadium took a few fleeting extra seconds to take in their surroundings before proceeding with their tune-up sessions.

Perhaps, it was that inescapable passing thought about a World Cup final and how everything they've done till now—picking up a bat or a ball, that first boundary, that first appeal, the sweat, the tears and the sweet joy of that imaginary six-hit to win the World Cup—will all be telescoped into these next few hours.

Or maybe all they were looking at was the new paraphernalia that had sprung up at the megastructure, readying itself for a glitzy curtain call.