Australia ‘ready for anything India throw at us’ in final

Ahmedabad (AFP): Australia are adamant they will be “ready for anything” India throw at them in the Cricket World Cup final after controversy hit the tournament in a ‘pitch switch’ row.

India have been the form team of the World Cup, winning all 10 games on their way to Sunday’s showpiece match in Ahmedabad.

But there was controversy in the lead-up to their 70-run semi-final in over New Zealand in Mumbai after it emerged the game was being played on a Wankhede Stadium pitch already used twice before during the tournament rather than a freshly-prepared surface.

“No doubt playing on your own wicket in your own country has some advantages,” Australia captain Pat Cummins told a pre-match press conference on Saturday. “But we’ve played a lot of cricket over here.”

“We’ll be ready in terms of anything they’ll throw at us…we’ll make sure we have some plans.”

A used pitch had no major bearing on the Mumbai semi-final, with more than 700 runs scored in the game.

Cummins, asked if he had already seen the pitch for the final, replied: “Yeah, just had a look. It looked pretty firm…I think Pakistan played someone there.”

India and arch-rivals Pakistan clashed in Ahmedabad four weeks ago.

The hosts cruised to victory by seven wickets after winning the toss and dismissing their opponents for just 191.

Used pitches generally favour spinners, with slow bowling a key component of a five-man India attack where Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja are expected to bowl 20 of their 50 overs on Sunday.

Australia have already won the World Cup a record five times and 30-year-old fast bowler Cummins, a member of the victorious 2015 side, was excited by having the opportunity to emulate the likes of Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting by leading the team to glory on Sunday.

“It would be huge,” he said. “We were all kids not too long ago, watching some of those great teams win the 1999, 2003, 2007 World Cups.”

He added: “To be captain would be an absolute privilege…it’d be awesome.

“It (the World Cup) has got the longest history of a world event where all the teams compete.

“You only get a shot at it every four years. So even if you have a long career, you might only play in two of these events. 2015 is still a career highlight for me, but I think tomorrow, if we win, might pip it.”

Head-to-head record

Last 10 meetings:

27/11/2020: Sydney – Australia won by 66 runs

29/11/2020: Sydney – Australia won by 51 runs

02/12/2020: Canberra – India won by 13 runs

17/03/2023: Mumbai – India won by 5 wickets

19/03/2023: Visakhapatnam – Australia won by 10 wickets

22/03/2023: Kolkata – Australia won by 21 runs

22/09/2023: Mohali – India won by 5 wickets

24/09/2023: Indore – India won by 99 runs

27/09/2023: Rajkot – Australia won by 56 runs

08/10/2023: Chennai – India won by 6 wickets

Overall:

India: 57 wins

Australia: 83 wins

Tied: 0

No Result: 10

Australia factfile

– WORLD RANKING –

– PATH TO THE FINAL –

Group stage

Oct 08: lost to India by 6 wickets at Chennai

Oct 12: lost to South Africa by 134 runs at Lucknow

Oct 16: bt Sri Lanka by 5 wickets at Lucknow

Oct 20: bt Pakistan by 62 runs at Bengaluru

Oct 25: bt Netherlands by 309 runs at New Delhi

Oct 28: bt New Zealand by 5 runs at Dharamsala

Nov 04: bt England by 33 runs at Ahmedabad

Nov 07: bt Afghanistan by 3 wickets at Mumbai

Nov 11: bt Bangladesh by 8 wickets at Pune

Semi-final

Nov 16: bt South Africa by 3 wickets at Kolkata

– SQUAD –

Pat Cummins (captain), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis (wkt), Sean Abbott, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.

– LEADING RUN-SCORER IN SQUAD –

David Warner: 6,925 runs; highest score 179; average 45.55; Hundreds 22; Fifties 33

– LEADING RUN-SCORER AT 2023 WORLD CUP –

David Warner: 528 runs; highest score 163; average 52.80; Hundreds 2; Fifties 2

– LEADING WICKET-TAKER IN SQUAD –

Mitchell Starc: 233 wickets; best bowling 6-28; average 23.02

– LEADING WICKET-TAKER AT 2023 WORLD CUP –

Adam Zampa: 22 wickets; best bowling 4-8; average 21.40

– PREVIOUS WORLD CUP APPEARANCES –

1975: Runners-up

1979: Group stage

1983: Group stage

1987: Champions

1992: Round-robin stage

1996: Runners-up

1999: Champions

2003: Champions

2007: Champions

2011: Quarter-finals

2015: Champions

2019: Semi-finals

India factfile

– WORLD RANKING –

– PATH TO THE FINAL –

Group stage

Oct 08: bt Australia by 6 wickets at Chennai

Oct 11: bt Afghanistan by 8 wickets at New Delhi

Oct 14: bt Pakistan by 7 wickets at Ahmedabad

Oct 19: bt Bangladesh by 7 wickets at Pune

Oct 22: bt New Zealand by 4 wickets at Dharamsala

Oct 29: bt England by 100 runs at Lucknow

Nov 02: bt Sri Lanka by 302 runs at Mumbai

Nov 05: bt South Africa by 243 runs at Kolkata

Nov 12: bt Netherlands by 160 runs at Bengaluru

Semi-final

Nov 15: bt New Zealand by 70 runs at Mumbai

– SQUAD –

Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (replaced by Prasidh Krishna in squad after injury), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav

– LEADING RUN-SCORER IN SQUAD –

Virat Kohli: 13,794 runs; highest score 183; average 58.69; Hundreds 50, Fifties 71

– LEADING RUN-SCORER AT 2023 WORLD CUP –

Virat Kohli: 711 runs; highest score 117; average 101.57; Hundreds 3, Fifties 5

– LEADING WICKET-TAKER IN SQUAD –

Ravindra Jadeja: 220 wickets; best bowling 5-33; average 35.87

– LEADING WICKET-TAKER AT 2023 WORLD CUP –

Mohammad Shami: 23 wickets; best bowling 7-57; average 9.13

– PREVIOUS WORLD CUP APPEARANCES –

1975: Group stage

1979: Group stage

1983: Champions