Ahmedabad: The long wait for the spectators to witness the winner of the World Cup 2023 will finally come to an end on Sunday as India will lock horns with Australia in the grand finale of the marquee tournament. While India will have an opportunity to lift the silverware for the first time after the 2011 edition, Australia will look to replicate their feat to win the World Cup after the 2015 edition at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
While carving their path to the final, India has won 10 matches on the trot and New Zealand was the latest victim to get outplayed by the Rohit Sharma-led side. There have been several factors which have led to India stepping into the final of the tournament but the following are some of the elements that have shaped India's glory run.
Rohit Sharma leading from the front
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has been brilliant with his leadership as well as with his batting. His captaincy has been pivotal for India's success as the captain has been smart in terms of rotating his bowlers. Rohit has amassed 550 runs from 10 matches with an average of 55. But rather than his consistency, the aggressive intent has made a difference. Rohit has played with a strike rate of 124.15 in the tournament and that has led to India being brilliant in the power play. The Mumbaikar has been fluent with his stroke play at the top and has inked some attacking opening stands.
Virat Kohli masterclass and Shreyas Iyer's impressive knocks
There are three Indian batters in the list of top 10 run-getters of the tournament with the likes of Rohit, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer featuring in the list. Virat Kohli has turned out to be a batter from some parallel universe with his unreal form. He has scored 711 runs across 10 innings with an extraordinary average of 101.57 and a strike rate of 90.69. He and Shreyas Iyer have handled the middle order with their significant knocks on national duty.
Pacers breathing fire
Batting has been a solid aspect for India but the bowling unit has turned out to be fearsome for the rivals throughout the tournament. The bowlers have bundled out the opposition side below a total of 200 on five occasions in the competition so far which included fierce teams like Australia and defending champions England.
India's bowling unit has picked 96 wickets across 10 innings registering the highest number of dismissals in the marquee tournament. Also, they have been on top in terms of economy, average and strike rate. The pace unit has been the biggest reason behind this as speedster Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah have been taking wickets regularly. Mohammed Shami has been a phenom with the white ball in his hand and has scalped 23 wickets with just an average of 9.13. Jasprit Bumrah has taken 18 wickets with an average of 18.33 and the duo has been sensational in ensuring that India entered the final.
Now, we are heading to Sunday with two teams fighting for a game that involves high stakes. The home audience will be rooting for their team to carve a glory run in the ODI World Cup after a wait of 12 long years. The Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli's batting masterclass, middle order piling up runs, pacers castling the opposition batters and spinner supporting them with key wickets have been the factors in India's victories but on top of all that, a clinical team performance has been the cause of success and the team will have to replace the same on the decisive day.
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