The Australians are riding a wave of confidence having won eight of their last eight matches at this World Cup, following two defeats at the start of the tournament
Pat Cummins clicks a picture of the Motera pitch on Saturday
It’s definitely not going to be easy for Australia with 1,30,000-plus people cheering for India during the World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday. But that’s exactly what visiting skipper Pat Cummins is planning to thrive on. “The crowd obviously is going to be very one-sided, but in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow [Sunday],” a smiling Cummins, 30, said at the match-eve press conference on Saturday.
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The Australians are riding a wave of confidence having won eight of their last eight matches at this World Cup, following two defeats at the start of the tournament. And skipper Cummins wants his team to simply embrace everything that’s associated with a World Cup final. “You’ve just got to embrace every part of a final, even in the lead-up there’s going to be noise and more people and interest and you just can’t get overwhelmed. You’ve got to be up for it, love it and know that whatever happens, it’s fine, but you want to finish the day with no regrets,” added the Aussie pace ace.
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Before India’s semi-final against New Zealand there was a huge pitch controversy with reports suggesting that the India camp chose a certain fresh track to suit their bowlers. However, there is no such issue here with Cummins clarifying that the pitch for the final is a “used pitch which is pretty firm and a pretty good wicket. Also, of all venues, perhaps at this venue the toss isn’t as important as, say, at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.”
Given this wicket is expected to offer some decent pace earlier on at least, the Indian think tank would be pleased to know that pace ace Mohammed Shami, who tops the wicket charts with 23 scalps from just six matches, is already playing on Cummins’s mind. “They [Indian bowlers] are all pretty well-rounded in all departments, but you know the one guy that didn’t play at the start of the tournament, who has done really well is obviously Mohammed Shami. He’s a class bowler to both right and left-handers, so yeah, he’s going to be a big one,” added Cummins.
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