After 45 league-stage fixtures and a couple of semi-finals, we are only one match away from knowing the winner of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
Hosts India will face five-time champions Australia in the World Cup final on Sunday (November 19) in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 132,000 spectators.
The stands will be filled with a plethora of Indian supporters, but Australian skipper Pat Cummins wants his troops to use the partisan crowd to their advantage in the summit clash.
"The crowd is obviously going to be very one sided, but in sport there is nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that's the aim for us tomorrow. You've just got to embrace every part of a final,” Cummins said on the eve of the final, as quoted by ICC.
"Even in the lead-up, there is going to be noise and more people and interest and you just can't get overwhelmed, you have got to be up for it and you have got to love it.
"And just know whatever happens, it's fine. You just want to finish the day with no regrets," he added.
Talking about Australia’s journey, the five-time champions started their World Cup campaign with two successive defeats before registering eight wins on the trot to make it to the grand finale. In the semi-final, the Aussies edged past South Africa by three wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
On the other hand, India have been the most dominant side in this World Cup. The Men in Blue defeated all their nine opponents in the league stage to qualify for the semi-final, where they outclassed New Zealand by 70 runs.
While India will enter the title clash as clear favourites, Cummins is pleased by the fact that his team is peaking at the right time.
"One of the pleasing things for us is I still don't feel like we've played the complete game," Cummins remarked.
"Maybe against Netherlands, but outside of that we probably haven't as there's been no huge wins and we've had to fight for every win and we have found a way to win and different players have stood up at different times.
"I think taking that confidence, knowing that we don't have to be at our absolute best to challenge any team.
"We can find a way through it and all the boys draw a lot of confidence from that going to tomorrow."
While Cummins has no idea how the pitch will behave in Ahmedabad, the Australia captain did suggest that the final will be a high-scoring affair. He also expects dew to be a factor for the side that bowls under lights.
"This city and venue seems to have more dew than a lot of the other places we play," Cummins said.
"That's something to think about ahead of tomorrow and it might only be the last quarter of the game.
"Once that settles in and the ball's sliding on, it's, it's quite different to say the first 20 overs where it might be swinging."
(With ICC Inputs)
