Can Australia restrain the Indian juggernaut?

• Cricket World Cup final tomorrow

AHMEDABAD: Five times champions Australia and two-time winner India will clash for honours in the 2023 Cricket World Cup at the world’s largest cricket venue with a capacity for holding 130,000 spectators, the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

The final is set for a gripping contest with two of the best sides from the ten who took part earning the right to lift the most coveted prize in international cricket.

Like the Olympics, this tournament happens once in four years and all the countries participating in it prepare their teams well ahead of time for the big event.

The way India has been playing they look like they are carrying all before them and are strong favourites to lift the World Cup for a third time, 12 years since they last won it.

From the way they have approached their cricket and the energy they have displayed on the field, there doesn’t seem to be any team in the competition that can match them. Australia, however good a team they may be, will be hard-pressed to beat India unless the host has an off day and plays badly. So far, they have not had one, sweeping everything before them to record 10 consecutive wins. A win in the final will see them emulate Australia who had 11 wins in a row in one edition of the World Cup. A feat they have performed twice in 2003 and 2007.

Of all the teams that took part in this World Cup, India seems to have ticked off all the boxes and there aren’t any to tick. What has made them such a strong contender is their aggressive batting at the top led by the captain Rohit Sharma. The pace he sets in the first ten overs of the Powerplay allows the middle order to settle down and consolidate. Such is their mastery and the depth of their batting that from the game against Sri Lanka they have gone past the 300-run mark in their last four matches. The gist of the runs has come off the bats of Virat Kohli (711 runs/strike rate 90.68), Sharma (550/124.15), Shreyas Iyer (526/113.11), Lokesh Rahul (386/98.72), and Shubman Gill (350/108.02).

The big question is does Australia have the firepower to contain such a strong line-up? Josh Hazlewood (14 wickets), Mitchell Starc and skipper Pat Cummins (13 each) are the quicks they have to rely on with Adam Zampa (22 wickets) and Glenn Maxwell (5) for spin. The way South African David Miller treated the leg-spin of Zampa hammering him for five sixes, does not give Australia a comfort zone against the likes of the Indian batters for whom spin is like their morning cup of tea.

On the contrary, the Indian bowlers especially, the seamers have been on song with Mohammed Shami revelling in Indian conditions to overshadow Jasprit Bumrah (18 wickets) and Mohammed Siraj (13) with three five-fer hauls that has given him an Indian record of 23 wickets in a World Cup tournament. The three seamers have been the key to India’s success after their batters have racked up massive totals that has given them the freedom to set attacking fields against all opposition. In the middle overs it has been India’s spin twins Ravindra Jadeja (16) and Kuldeep Yadav (15) reaping the rewards.

In comparison to India’s overwhelming batting, Australia’s seems to be rather modest. David Warner (528/107.53) and Mitch Marsh (426/107.84) are the leading run scorers with Glenn Maxwell, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith being the other key contributors. Maxwell, Marsh and Warner have made two centuries apiece and Tim Head one. On his day Maxwell can be a match-winner like he showed against Afghanistan where he scored an extraordinary double century to rescue Australia from the jaws of death to one of triumph. But then again, he can also be ordinary when he was dismissed for one going for a big heave against Tabraiz Shamsi.

When the two sides last met in a World Cup final in 2003 Australia got the better of India by 125 runs. How well Australia can match up to indomitable India will decide the fate of the final.