An Indian victory at Ahmedabad is in sight
My kites, my views
Shishir Prashant
The much publicized India-Australia world cup final match on Sunday in Ahmedabad should be seen from two angles. First India has remained unbeaten defeating all its opponents convincingly. On the other hand, Australia which suffered two major defeats in the hands of India and South Africa initially, has bounced back forcefully though its Thursday victory against Proteas was not so impressive.
Nevertheless, aided by both bowlers and batters, the Australian campaign to win the sixth world cup had gathered momentum when it had registered a couple of emphatic victories especially against Pakistan. The Australian victory against the Dutch was very huge sending warning to the rivals that it is still in the reckoning to win the cup again.
Led by Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa, the Australian bowling attack appears to be very fierce. After the back to back centuries by David Warner and the fastest world cup century as well as double century by Glenn Maxwell, Aussies have regained the strength at the right time and ready to take on India
Besides Warner and Maxwell, other Aussies batters like Mitchel Marsh, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and J Inglis are also in form and playing well. The resurgence of Australia has also made the world cup very interesting at a time when India was looking invincible. After performing not-so-well against Proteas in the semifinal, Aussies will face a major Indian hurdle in its bid to win the cricket world cup for the sixth time in Sunday’s mega final.
Rohit Sharma’s men in blue would definitely pose a big challenge in the final as they are in tremendous form. Right from the opening pair of Sharma and Shubman Gill, the Indian batting lineup is looking very impeccable with Virat Kohli, K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer scoring centuries and thus becoming leading batters in this tournament. The Indian bowling led by Mohd Shami and Jasprit Bumbrah is also very fierce. Both the two spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja are in awesome form. India may go for a minor change tomorrow. There are reports that coach Rahul Dravid is keen to bring R Ashwin in place of Mohd Siraj.
In case India wins the cup for the third time, the victory will be well-deserved. It will be well-deserved because the team India has thrashed all the opponents. If Australia wins, it will be a stunner because Aussies, though for a short period, were at the bottom of the table in this world cup. Ends