Rohit Sharma’s undefeated India will look to end a 10-year global title drought in front of 130,000 fans in the World Cup final against five-time champions Australia on Sunday.
India have racked up 10 straight wins at the tournament as they seek a third World Cup triumph to add to their 1983 and 2011 victories, the last of which came on home soil.
Despite the country’s cricket riches, India are without an international title since the 2013 Cham-pions Trophy and expectations in the cricket-crazy nation of 1.4 billion people have reached fever pitch.
However, the hosts are up against an Australian side who have won eight matches in a row and will be playing in their eighth World Cup final.
“This is going to be an unbelievable game,” former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was part of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, told TV channel India Today.
“You are playing against the five-time champi-ons, a team that knows how to come back from almost impossible situations, who know how to play finals, how to win finals.”
“So I believe it will be a real, real challenge for the Indian team but I do believe that Rohit Sharma’s men are up for it.”
Apart from their five World Cup victories, Australia clinched their maiden T20 crown in 2021 and also beat India convincingly in the World Test Championship final earlier this year.
India handed Australia a six-wicket mauling in the group stage in Chennai four weeks ago where Pat Cummins’ side were bowled out for 199.
Australia also slumped to a 134-run defeat to South Africa in Lucknow but they avenged that loss on Thursday with a three-wicket win over the Proteas in a tense semi-final at Kolkata.
India made the final by hammering New Zea-land by 70 runs in Mumbai with a red-hot Virat Kohli hitting a record 50th ODI century.
Kohli, who surpassed compatriot Sachin Ten-dulkar’s record of 49 tons, leads the tournament batting with 711 runs including three hundreds.
Rohit is the next best Indian batsman with 550 runs and his leadership has been widely praised — former England captain Nasser Hussain called him a “real hero”.
India also boast the tournament’s leading bowler with Mohammed Shami taking 23 wickets in six matches, including 7-57 against the Kiwis on Wednesday.—APP
