India lost the toss but still got what they wanted, as Australia chose to bowl first in the titanic final of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, November 19. Rohit Sharma's India are playing the same XI as their previous game against New Zealand, and the Pat Cummins-led Australians are also fielding the same team that they did in the semi-final against South Africa. (Match Blog | Streaming | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Rohit said he would have batted first if he had won the toss, which means Cummins' decision went in his favour. "I would have batted first. Looks a good pitch, big game, put runs on the board. It's going to be amazing, everytime 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," Rohit told former India cricketer Ravi Shastri at the toss.
Cummins said dew could be a factor later on, which prompted his decision to bowl. "Looks like a dry wicket. Dew is a factor. It gets better to bat on."
The Australia skipper added, "It's been a tough start to the tournament, but we haven't really put a foot wrong ever since. It's all set up perfectly. We've played these guys a lot."
The toss plays a key role in the final between two goliaths of world cricket. However, in the last 12 World Cups, team that has won the toss has gone to win four times and teams that have lost the toss, have won 8 times. Most notably, India's success in the 1983 and 2011 saw them lose the toss in the two World Cup finals which they went onto win.
Rohit had earlier said what happened in the 2003 World Cup final will have no bearing on how the team plays in the 2023 summit clash. ""The mantra we have followed is this only, we haven't brought the past game into this game, or what happened in the past or what's going to happen in the future. We haven't thought much about all that, we have only thought about who the next opposition is and how we have to play cricket against them and what is our strength and what is their strength, how to explore their weakness, and how to increase our strength," Rohit said at the pre-match presser.
"We focus more on all this - not what happened 20 years ago. And I don't think we want to think about such things and do that much. We want to think about the present and prepare well," he added.
Teams:
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.
