World Cup 2023: With ferocious Rohit, Shami, anchor Kohli, India look to repeat 2011 glory in final

Rohit Sharma led Indian side will take on Australia in the final of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 at Motera stadium where they trounced the Kangaroos in the 2011 World Cup quarter final and went on to win the trophy. There is a generational change in the team and in the approach of the Men in Blue who follow their skipper's script to the letter. Meenakshi Rao recalls how the previous generation of the India team managed to overcome Australia in the 2011 edition while analysing the strength of the present team.

Mumbai: The last time India met Australia in a home World Cup knockout round, it was at Motera where M S Dhoni’s men trounced the yellow shirts in the quarter finals. This time, they meet at the 'final frontier' but at a very different Motera, under different skippers, strategies and mind space. Motera was back then dusty, small and a remote venue when compared to a Wankhede or a Chinnaswamy.

It was also not the mammoth it is today. The capacity was then 40,000 and not the 1.32 lakh it roars about today — carrying the name of none less than the Prime Minister himself. So when Pat Cummins leads his squad into the middle on November 19, he would be doing so to a sea, literally an ocean, of Indian supporters.

Last time, what the Australians were up against was a new India, a compact unit, dueling till the end, bowling well, fielding even better and then packing a punch with an intense round of batting, be it from Yuvraj and Raina or Tendulkar and Gambhir. It was a show that was meant to and did dump four-times world champions Australia, a script that led them into another blockbuster awaiting at Mohali – a dream semi final against old time rivals Pakistan.

Today the Indian reality has not changed. It has only been upgraded. Rohit Sharma, who was not part of the 2011 juggernaut, is the leader of a pack that hunts and annexes in groups and treats it as a must assignment — with a ferocity that signifies a Sharma or a Shami;

If Dhoni’s men showed up as the real warriors, winning the game more in the mind than merely with their skill sets, Sharma leads a hungry pack of youngsters who have been tutored to complete their assignment as instructed. The skill sets are fiery and winged but the mind has been schooled to be grounded on all occasions.

Back then, it was Yuvraj Singh who batted as if his life was at stake and stood up to the Aussie quicks. In the 2023 league match when India met Australia for the first time in the tournament, Kohli did the same.

When India was in dire straits having lost the top three for a single digit score in the league match at Chennai, Kohli became the persevering shield against a collapse.

If India lost Sharma to a rare duck at Chepauk in their inaugural match against Australia, in 2011 Sehwag’s early departure in the quarter final gave similar jitters.

It was special for India because it did not come easy then and it was grittier this time round.

Now that was a quarterfinal, this one a Final that has a resurgent Australia in the hunt after initial setbacks.

Pat Cummins is the most unAussie bloke lacking the arrogance of a Ponting or a Waugh. Though that does not eat into him being an arm threat for oppositions.

In the 2011 quarter final, eternal fighters Australia first posted a robust 260 and then drew the cordon with their pace battery. In that sense, it was one amazing duel that India refused to lose and it went down right to the 47.4th over when man of the moment, man of the match and man of the tournament Yuvraj Singh eventually hit Brett Lee to a winning boundary.

This was also that day which Dhoni had been talking about all along, a day when all departments under him rose to the occasion. It was a long haul, the 260 that the Australians had scored and the early departure of Sehwag made it look like a difficult mission which started to daunt after Tendulkar nicked to Haddin on a Tait on-the-off-stump beauty and fell at 53. He was sent back when India were at 94.

The mantle of rescue and relief work back then fell on Kohli who has, in these 12 years, perfected the firefighting skill to emerge as the team’s anchor sheet.

Then a young gun, Kohli paired up well with Gambhir, playing sensibly and rotating the strike, till the mounting run rate got to him and he struck immaturely straight into the hands of Michael Clarke at mid wicket to give David Hussey a reason to live.

And then came Yuvraj and the most intense phase of the match. The stand-in that Suresh Raina gave to Yuvraj is similar to what K L Rahul has been extending to Kohli in his rescue acts in 2023.

Only two players of the 2011 edition remain in the squad under Rohit — Virat Kohli and R Ashwin.

The Aussies, too, have moved a generation away from that quarterfinal with only one member from that squad remaining in the team — Steve Smith.

So with no history to nag the Aussies, their intent will be more dangerous for Sharma who has muscle of a different ability to take up the challenge with a fearless brand of cricket which has seeped down to the last man stand in blue jersey!

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