Virat Kohli is special. Just how special has been amply demonstrated during the 2023 World Cup. Beyond the Bradmanesque batting figures—771 runs at an average of 101.57—his anchor role has held Indian innings together on several occasions throughout the tournament, even as his credentials as the greatest chaser in the history of the sport have not yet had occasion to be called upon by his team.
But India’s incredible domination over the past month-and-a-half leading to the final on Sunday in Ahmedabad has not just been a Virat Kohli show. It couldn’t have been. Not by a long margin. Leading from the front has been Captain Courageous.
Rohit Sharma is probably the most under-appreciated captain in recent times (Ajinkya Rahane might smile at that one). When he took over the captaincy from Kohli, he had already decided India would approach white-ball cricket differently from what Indian cricket was used to. The team would go on a blitzkrieg in the first and last powerplays, combining the best of two tested formulas — the ODI start pioneered by Sanath Jayasuriya and the T20 finish whose textbook was scripted by AB de Villiers. In the middle, batters would milk the ones and twos and boundaries where they could get them. The problem thus far had been in the implementation.
India first tried it at the T20 World Cup in 2022 and failed. The likes of KL Rahul and Kohli were unable to adapt their playing style. So, Sharma did what great leaders do—sacrifice their own thirst for runs for the sake of the team. Going into this World Cup, India saw the new approach take shape. Take the opposition bowlers on from the first ball, give the team a flying start, and set up a platform on which Shubman Gill, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and Rahul could execute the plan.
Over the course of ten matches in this World Cup, including the all-important semi-final, this formula has paid rich dividends. India’s top five batters have together scored a staggering 2,523 runs, four of them with an average of 75+. That is over 250 runs per match just among the top five. Calling it phenomenal is an understatement to what Indian batters have collectively achieved.
But there is something more incredible in this Indian story leading up to the final. India’s bowlers in action. Millions of fans have tuned into live streams and turned up at stadiums across the country to watch Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav in action. Out of the possible 100 opposition wickets, they have taken 85. More than the wickets themselves, it’s the execution of plans that has put them on a different plane of high performance from any other bowling attack. The South African batters who notched up 300+ scores in five of their seven games were bowled out for 83 when it came to chasing 327 against the Indian bowlers.
Holding all of this brilliance together were self-belief and resolve that will now face its ultimate test in the final tomorrow. It is this mental strength, the joy in celebrating each other’s successes, and the determination to be the best version of themselves that may well be the key to the result this Indian team seeks.
But first, they must beat the most successful team in the history of the World Cup—a team that also puts the ‘mind’ above all else. Facing India in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium are eight-time finalists, five-time champions Australia. This team has a mental muscle memory of victories that would put a herd of elephants to shame. A team that India’s former mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton once told me: “It’s all about mental strength. They [Australia] win most often because they go into a match truly believing their own bull**** about being the best in the world, even on occasions they are far from being that.”
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An uphill task lies ahead
Australia came into this World Cup seemingly less prepared than most others. A few matches in, they looked a spent force. Experts dropped them off the list of potential semi-finalists. And then, in typical Aussie fashion, they bounced back. Going into Sunday, they are on a seven-match winning streak.
Adam Zampa, the only specialist spinner in the squad, had been taken apart for 113 runs in his 10 overs by the South Africans just before the team landed in India. In a remarkable turnaround, going into the final, Zampa has looked the most impactful bowler and with 22 wickets, is Australia’s highest wicket-taker at any World Cup edition.
David Warner, playing his last ODI World Cup, has scored 528 runs at over 50 runs an innings. He ranks among the top Australian ODI batters of all time alongside the Waugh brothers, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Michael Clarke, and poses a huge threat for India if not dismissed early.
Travis Head, the left-handed batter, missed the first half of the tournament due to an injury, but has seemingly turned into Australia’s lucky charm since landing on Indian shores. Head’s occasional spin bowling will matter just as much on what is expected to be a turning track.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood, and captain Pat Cummins form the only pace attack in the world right now that seriously challenges the Indian one. After an indifferent start (other than having India three down for two in their first encounter of the tournament), the trio has roared back into form. The start that Rohit Sharma gives India against this pace attack could well decide the course of the match.
And then there is the other occasional spinner in the squad, a certain Glenn Maxwell. Cramped, unable to move, his side with their backs against the wall, Maxwell played the greatest ODI innings of this millennium to take Australia into the semis. Quietly, unobtrusively, he has also picked up five wickets and kept oppositions in check. He may well be the key for Australia in the final.
Rarely have two more deserving teams faced up in a World Cup final. The format in 2023 has ensured that teams needed to be consistent and sustainably high performing to get to the stage where India and Australia now stand.
Will Rohit Sharma lift the cup that finally flushes away the gut-wrenching disappointment he suffered 12 years ago? Will Gill, Siraj, Ishan, and Shreyas carry Kohli on their shoulders on a victory lap to make it a tradition? Will the nation reverberate with roars of joy as it celebrates Diwali twice in the same month?
Inarguably, there is no Indian team that has deserved it more. And 1.4 billion fans will draw hope from history. They know India has won the World Cup twice in three trips to the final. They are also well aware that the host team has gone on to lift the trophy in the last three tournaments. And yet, the reality, and Indians fans will be keenly aware of this, is that on the day, with a World Cup at stake, the team that wins is the one that rides luck and form in equal measure.
As they hold their collective breaths, 130,000 pairs of eyes in the stadium and a billion in front of screens will close when that final six soars into the stands. The bat that despatches it, they will hope and pray, will be an Indian one.
Anindya Dutta @Cric_Writer is a sports columnist and author of Wizards: The Story of Indian Spin Bowling, and Advantage India: The Story of Indian Tennis. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)