World Cup Final: India Lose First Wicket As Shubman Gill Tries To Pull A Short Ball

Ahmedabad: India lost their first wicket as Shubman Gill attempted his trademark short-arm jab but hit it straight to Adam Zampa at mid-on with the scorecard reading 30 in 4.2 overs at the ICC One-Day International (ODI) World Cup 2023 final at Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday.

India skipper Rohit Sharma, however, ended the over by Mitchell Starc with a six.

Gill had edged the first ball he faced, but it fell short of the first-slip fielder. There was also an lbw appeal off the first ball, but the umpire deemed the ball to have swung too much and likely going down the leg side. While India was 3/0 in 1 over, Rohit Sharma hit two two consecutive fours off Josh Hazlewood to take India to 13/0 in 2nd over.

Earlier, Australia won the toss and opted to bowl.

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.”

Both the team are 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.

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

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