India look to continue undefeated record and claim Cricket World Cup title against Australia
India have won all ten games in the lead up to the Cricket World Cup final against Australia at Ahmedabad.
Virat Kohli is topping the run-scoring charts (711), while Mohammed Shami has the most wickets (23) from just 6 matches.
India went unbeaten throughout the group stages and toppled New Zealand in the semi-final on Wednesday by 70 runs.
The title for India would be their first World Cup victory since 2011 and first major tournament since 2013 with the Champions Trophy.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya pulled up after three balls against Bangladesh earlier in the tournament forcing India to shuffle around their line-up.
Shardul Thakur dropped out of the side alongside Pandya, making way for Shami and Suryakumar Yadav.
Indian captain, Rohit Sharma has been in fine form with the bat, scoring 550 runs at a strike-rate of 124.
The last time they played, both sides’ first game of the tournament, India blew away Australia for 199 and chased it down with six wickets remaining, after being 2-3.
Australia lost their first two matches of the tournament and were struggling for form but have since won eight games consecutively.
David Warner has been the pick of the batters, averaging over 50, while Glenn Maxwell and Mitch Marsh have been extremely destructive.
Adam Zampa has taken one wicket less than Shami and has three four-fers.
Australia defeated South Africa in a tense semi-final by just three wickets with a seam bowling master class keeping the South African total to 212.
It was the first game with a fully fit squad to select from.
Travis Head was originally injured but has since returned to open the batting, scoring a hundred in his first match.
The all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Cam Green missed out in favour of a more stable middle-order.
Australia won the 2015 ODI World Cup and the 2021 T20 World Cup and will be looking to add to their five titles.
To hear more about the World Cup as a whole, head over to The One Short Podcast on either Spotify or the Sports Gazette to hear analysis on both teams and the tournament.
