Ahmedabad: Australia skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to field in the summit clash against India at the ICC One-Day International (ODI) World Cup 2023 final at Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday.
“We are gonna have a bowl first. Looks like a dry wicket. Dew is a factor. It gets better to bat on. Tough start to the tournament, haven’t really put a foot wrong ever since. It’s all set up perfectly. We’ve played these guys a lot. Same team as the semi-final,” said Cummims at the toss.
Team India captain Rohit Sharma said he would have batted first anyhow. “Looks a good pitch, big game, put runs on the board. It’s going to be amazing, every time we play here, the crowd come out in large numbers. The biggest occasion in the cricketing event. We have to stay nice and calm. It’s a dream come true to be captaining the team in the final. I know what lies in front of us. We need to play well and get the result. You got to make the right decisions on the field. That’s something we’ve done consistently in the last 10 games.”
India will also be playing with the same squad.
Notably, the toss hasn’t played a significant role at the venue, with teams winning the toss emerging victorious on two occasions but also facing defeat on two instances. The only team that chose to bat in Ahmedabad was Afghanistan, and they lost the match to South Africa by five wickets.
Interestingly, India had lost the toss in both the world cup they won while both of Australia’s defeats in this tournament (against India and South Africa) have come after Cummins won the toss.
PITCH
The teams will play on the same wicket that was used for India vs Pakistan. “It’s different because it has been left open for quite a long time. It looks dry. Looks patchy especially in the areas where spinners will land the ball. I expect it to turn. Batting first, getting runs on the board is premium,” said Ravi Shastri.
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
