ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 comes a full circle for India and Australia
India will play their fourth World Cup final on November 19, having won two of the three times. The Men in Blue will lock horns against the five-time world champions Australia at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In-form India will step onto the field with a massive support of 130,000 fans at the stadium and a billion across the world watching the match in anticipation. The last time these two teams met in a 50-over World Cup final was in 2003, when Australia defeated India by 125 runs. Rahul Dravid was a part of the team then as a player and is a part of the team now as a coach. Can Dravid and India after 20 years settle scores with the mighty Australians? If India is successful, they will become the first team to host and win the World Cup twice.
Head-to-Head
India and Australia have played 150 ODIs against each other since 1980, of which India have won 57, Australia have won 83, and 10 matches did not produce results. In India, they have played 71 ODIs against each other, with India and Australia winning 33 apiece and five matches not producing results. At the World Cups, Australia lead 8-5 against India.
| Particulars | India | Australia |
| ICC ODI Rankings | 1 | 2 |
| Wins in ODIs | 57 | 83 |
| In India | 33 | 33 |
| At World Cups | 5 | 8 |
Performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023
India started their World Cup campaign by beating Australia by six wickets. With the hosts taking on the same opposition in the grand finale, their journey has come a full circle. Winning 10 out of 10 matches in this competition leading up to the final, India have been overwhelmingly impressive. Australia, on the other hand, started their tournament with two losses. They suffered defeats at the hands of South Africa, whom they later beat in the semi-finals and India, whom they will meet in the finals. After the first two losses, Australia have not looked back and won their next seven.
| Match number | India | Australia |
| 1 | Beat Australia by 6 wickets | Lost to India by 6 wickets |
| 2 | Beat Afghanistan by 8 wickets | Lost to South Africa by 134 runs |
| 3 | Beat Pakistan by 7 wickets | Beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets |
| 4 | Beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets | Beat Pakistan by 62 runs |
| 5 | Beat New Zealand by 4 wickets | Beat Netherlands by 309 runs |
| 6 | Beat England by 100 runs | Beat New Zealand by 5 runs |
| 7 | Beat Sri Lanka by 302 runs | Beat England by 33 runs |
| 8 | Beat South Africa by 243 runs | Beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets |
| 9 | Beat Netherlands by 160 runs | Beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets |
| Semi-Final | Beat New Zealand by 70 runs | Beat South Africa by 3 wickets |
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
Injury updates
India and Australia do not have any injury concerns ahead of their final summit.
Playing conditions
Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the final match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 between India and Australia. It will be a day night match. The venue will host its fifth and last match of this tournament. The teams batting second have won three of the four matches played here. The highest total posted here is 286 and the lowest is 191 in this World Cup. The venue offers black and red soil pitches. Black soil pitches favour batting as the ball bounce is even. Red soil pitches favour the bowlers, especially the spinners, as the ball bounce is slow and low.
Weather
The weather is expected to see plenty of sunshine. The maximum temperature attained during the day will be 33 degrees Celsius. There will be no cloud cover and no chance of rain. The wind will blow from the north-east.
Powerplay (0-10 overs) comparison
On an average, India have scored 69 runs in the first 10 overs of the match and claimed two wickets. On the other hand, Australia have scored 66 runs and picked 1.3 wickets. While there is not much in the number of runs scored by the two teams in the first 10 overs, there is a significant difference between the wickets taken by the new ball bowlers of both teams. India have 20 wickets, while Australia have 13, in the first 10 overs.
| Match number | India | Australia | ||
| Batting | Bowling | Batting | Bowling | |
| 1 | 27/3 | 43/1 | 43/1 | 27/3 |
| 2 | 94/0 | 48/1 | 50/3 | 53/0 |
| 3 | 79/2 | 49/0 | 64/2 | 51/0 |
| 4 | 63/0 | 63/0 | 82/0 | 59/0 |
| 5 | 63/0 | 34/2 | 66/1 | 48/3 |
| 6 | 35/2 | 40/4 | 118/0 | 73/2 |
| 7 | 60/1 | 14/6 | 48/2 | 38/2 |
| 8 | 91/1 | 35/3 | 52/4 | 46/1 |
| 9 | 91/0 | 62/1 | 58/1 | 62/0 |
| Semi Final | 84/1 | 46/2 | 74/2 | 18/2 |
Top 3 Batters and Bowlers
The fact that the top run scorer and leading wicket taker in this tournament are from India speaks volumes of the team’s dominance. Virat Kohli is sitting on top of the runs table with 711 runs and Mohammad Shami holds the numero uno position with 23 wickets. Not too far behind is Australia’s Adam Zampa with 22 wickets. However, in the batting department, apart from David Warner, who has 500+ runs and to some extent Mitchell Marsh (400+ runs), none of the other batters have been able to contribute much, let alone that miraculous double century from Glenn Maxwell.
| India | Australia | |||
| Batter | Bowler | Batter | Bowler | |
| 1 | Virat Kohli – 711 runs | Mohammad Shami – 23 wickets | David Warner – 528 runs | Adam Zampa – 22 wickets |
| 2 | Rohit Sharma – 550 runs | Jasprit Bumrah – 18 wickets | Mitchell Marsh – 426 runs | Josh Hazlewood – 14 wickets |
| 3 | Shreyas Iyer – 526 runs | Ravindra Jadeja – 16 wickets | Glenn Maxwell – 398 runs | Mitchell Starc – 13 wickets |
When India and Australia played against each other the last time in this World Cup…
Quite interestingly, India and Australia started their World Cup campaign playing against each other and will now end the tournament in the same fashion. On October 8, the two teams met at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai when India thrashed Australia by six wickets chasing a modest target of 200 in 41.2 overs. David Warner and Steven Smith anchored the innings with scores of 41 and 46 respectively, however the spin twins in Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, who shared five wickets between them were too hot to handle. India, in reply, despite losing their opening pair of captain Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan cheaply, Virat Kohli (87) and KL Rahul (97 not out) bailed the team out. Josh Hazlewood (3 wickets) and Mitchell Starc (1 wicket) bowled well with the new ball, however did not receive much support from others.
When India and Australia played at Ahmedabad in this World Cup…
India and Australia have played one match each at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. While India faced Pakistan and beat them by seven wickets, chasing 192, Australia clashed against England and handed them a 33-run defeat, as they defended 286. India’s Jasprit Bumrah (19/2 in seven overs) and Australia’s Adam Zampa (21/3 in 10 overs) won the player of the match awards for their brilliant bowling performances.
Milestones alert
- Mohammad Shami needs 6 wickets to complete 200 ODI wickets
- Jasprit Bumrah needs 3 wickets to complete 150 ODI wickets
- David Warner (6) needs one century to equal Rohit Sharma (7) who has the most centuries in World Cups and 75 runs to complete 7000 ODI runs
- Glenn Maxwell needs 101 runs to complete 1000 runs in World Cups and 107 runs to complete 4000 ODI runs
Match details
Date: November 19, 2023
Time: 2:00 PM IST
Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Live streaming: Star Sports, Hotstar
All the statistics are sourced from ESPN Cricinfo