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World Cup 2023 Final: India looks to exorcise the ghosts of 2003 while Australia aims to lift their 6th trophy

While India made it to the final without breaking a sweat, the Aussies started the tournament sluggishly losing their first 2 encounters before finding form and eventually cruising to the knockout stage.

On 19th November (Sunday), India is up against Australia in yet another ODI World Cup final. The final fixture brings back the memory of the 2003 World Cup Final when the resurgent Indian led by Sourav Ganguly faced a 125-run defeat at the hands of Australia.

The memories of Ponting’s epic knock and Glenn McGrath’s first over dismissal of in-form Sachin Tendulkar while defending a mammoth total of 360 are still fresh in Indian fans’ minds.

Now the two sides meet again at the largest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad, with India aiming to avenge the defeat of the 2003 World Cup. While Australia will step onto the field to create history of their own. Pat Cummings-led Aussies will aim to better their own record five-world cup trophies so far and stretch it further.

Apart from five World titles to their name already, Australia has made a record number of presence in the World Cup finals and this is the eighth time that they will be playing in a World Cup final. In the last seven attempts, they had lost only twice in the finals. No other team dominated the 22-yard pitch like the mighty Aussies did in the 1990s and 2000s. Back then, they made 4 consecutive World Cup final appearances from 1996-2007, winning 3 of them. 

India, on the other hand, has made it to their fourth World Cup finals, clinching the prestigious trophy twice and losing once in 2003.

However, this time the tables have turned and the Indian side is the clear favourite before stepping on the pitch as both sides had a slightly different run to the semifinals. 

While India made it to the final without breaking a sweat, the Aussies started the tournament sluggishly losing their first 2 encounters before finding form and eventually cruising to the knockout stage.

Both sides also met each other in the league phase of the tournament with Indian bowlers steamrolling the Aussie batters and bundled them out for199 runs. The pace duo of left-armer Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood did send chills down the Indian spine sending three Indian batsmen back to the pavilion quickly. Nonetheless, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul steered the ship and easily got the Indian side home. 

For India in this World Cup, all the players from 1 to 11 have given stellar performances and stepped up at crucial stages of the match. Rohit Sharma, Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja have all been among the runs during the tournament.

While the bowlers have proven to be unplayable with Mohammed Shami leading the pace battery and spin twin of Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav controlling the game in the middle overs. The dominance of Indian bowlers is evidenced by the fact that they dismissed the opposition for double-digit scores twice in the tournament, against Sri Lanka and South Africa. With sky-high confidence, India stands as the clear favourite to lift the trophy. 

For Australia, things have been far from flawless. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith haven’t been in the best of forms in this tournament, and haven’t played the kind of long knocks Australia expected of them.

While the 2003 defeat is playing on the minds of Indian Cricketing fans, both sides have changed completely since then with Rahul Dravid the only common link from that era.

Whether India manages to reverse the result of the 2003 ODI World Cup Finals and finish this World Cup with a perfect record, or will Australia once again triumph and shatter Indian hearts, either way, this promises to be a mouthwatering final.

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OpIndia Staff
OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
Staff reporter at OpIndia

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