[harry10]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Alright then, time to bury ghosts of 2003.

Will india be tempted to play Ashwin ahead of Siraj is the only question that needs answering.

I won't tinker with the winning combination personally Unless pitch is like today which is assisting spin big time. Plus Ashwin has a mental edge over Aussies. Interesting dilemma for coach and captain.

SA played exactly as I thought they will. When their captain isn't performing and is always on Blackfoot while setting up fields what more to expect. Even when 10 runs were needed he had mid on back at long on giving easy single.

Anyways Aussies in another World cup final. We avenged the 2019 loss against NZ and now it's time to avenge the 2003 finals loss( which was more heart breaking for me than 2019). Our fielding and catching needs to be spot on.

[VWAllstar]

My playing XI for the WC 2023 Final

R Sharma
S Gill
V Kohli
S Iyer
KL Rahul
SKY
Jadeja
Ashwin
Kuldeep
Shami
Bhumrah

Not very sure about Siraj. He has been erratic with his line and length. However, Sharma feels Siraj is his lucky charm.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Alright then, time to bury ghosts of 2003.

Will india be tempted to play Ashwin ahead of Siraj is the only question that needs answering.

I sincerely feel Ashwin should be playing this one as he has been on the bench all through out the world cup matches, he deserves to be in the playing 11. Plus the Aussies aren't known to play spin that well and an additional spinner would definitely put pressure.

I would move Surya Kumar Yadav out and bring Ashwin in provided the Ahmedabad pitch suits the spinners.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I sincerely feel Ashwin should be playing this one as he has been on the bench all through out the world cup matches, he deserves to be in the playing 11. Plus the Aussies aren't known to play spin that well and an additional spinner would definitely put pressure.

I would move Surya Kumar Yadav out and bring Ashwin in provided the Ahmedabad pitch suits the spinners.

No way they are dropping SKY, this is where we miss pandya, if he was there, he could have replaced SKY and Ashwin coming in place of Siraj.

Ashwin also brings batting capabilities. Good headache to have, but seeing aussies struggle against spin yesterday, we should consider playing Ashwin.

[antz.bin]

I checked out the previous games in the world cup that happened at Ahmedabad.

Couldn't see anything that would lead us to believe that Rohit is going to swap Siraj for Ashwin. Pacers have done well at the venue and our 2 spinners have done their job well across the tournament.

There is no need to make changes now. I feel he is going to stick to the current 11 barring an emergency. The team is working as a well oiled machine and I don't think there is any cause for concern. The Final is probably going to be closer than the earlier games, but the end result won't change much from the last 10 games.

[Asish_VK]

Whatever the team combination India chooses to play, I just want India to win the final by a large margin.

It would be nice to have reverse of 2003 WC. In 2003 WC, India lost against Australia in the league matches, reached finals and got trashed by Australia . I just want it in reverse this time.
Already taken care of the first part (Australia loosing to India in league match), now waiting for India to hammer Australia in final.

Icing on the cake will be a Hitman Special daddy hundred in the finals. He truly deserves one

[PreludeSH]

Rohit has and will be the key to our batting. He has made such a huge difference to the score and rate that Kohli could keep aiming for the record and still have India score big.
Hope Shreyas continues his form.

The first thing I thought was also for bringing in Ashwin. He would be as good as Siraj in bowling and better in batting. Although his batting would help if we are in precarious position with not so high run rate required like the position Aussies were in yesterday. Only thing is if Siraj clicks in opening spell, it would mean wickets.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by ike

South Africa don't have adequate runs on board unfortunately. Would have been an entirely different story if they were chasing something closer to 300.

The first part is right. But 300 was not really on cards. Even if Aussies batted first, we'd have seen a middling 200 odd score on the board, such was the assistance to bowling yesterday.

Originally Posted by Revvatron

Finals mostly have been one sided affairs in recent past, except 2019 ofcourse.Hopefully that's how it stays this time too

Not just recent. 2019 was the closest finals in the history of CWC. Next closest final was 1987 World Cup, when Border's Aussies edged England for their first World Cup.

[Geo_Ipe]

Originally Posted by khanmaj

Temba Bavuma should not have played in this match in my opinion. His fitness was doubtful and his form is awful.

Bavuma's captaincy + opening stunt has been misunderstood by many.

He opens the batting - plays a few balls - gets how the pitch is behaving - runs back to tell his teammates!

[PPS]

I hope curators are not entertaining thoughts of dishing out a turning pitch at Ahmedabad for the WC Final! A slow turning pitch helps Aussies more as the likes of Zampa,Maxwell,Head get into the game. Ideally a flat track should be provided just like earlier games. Siraj may have been slightly inconsistent in some games but the best part about this team is that all 11 players are in form. Thats the reason batting depth which was a hot topic of discussion early on, is thrown out of the equation. Comparatively Australians are heavily reliant on 5-6 players to get them out of trouble.

Originally Posted by NPV

South Africa in knockouts don’t need any trigger, they just start choking from the word go!

You need to be in a winning position & then throw it away for it to be a choke! SA just didn't bat well.

[silverado]

We should all remember what the Aussie pacers did to us in the first match. Forcing pace against them only comes once we survive their new ball attack first. I am sure Rohit and Gill are smart enough to change their tactics with Aussie pacers, and leave the batting ego aside.

That doesnt mean a defensive mindset, as starc after initial overs will mostly leak runs. Hazelwood's first spell needs to be played on merit.
I am also the one who beleives Ashwin should come in place of Siraj.

The likes of Warner and Labuschange have struggled against him.
Travis head is and has always been the real danger man in powerplays, and if siraj plays he is likely to leak runs here.
If Ashwin plays, opening the innings with Ashwin can be a backup plan if one of the pacers really leak runs.

[Toni]

Midway through the South African innings, the word ‘chokers’ was trending on social media as the Proteas suffered a less-than-ideal start to their World Cup semifinal against Australia, being reduced to 24/4 in the 12th over. Whether they like it or not, the ‘chokers’ tag has been the albatross around South African necks for decades, and Friday was another occasion when they tripped over at the knockout hurdle.

Head coach Rob Walter, however, refused to acknowledge the tag, saying, “You need to define what choking is. For me, a choke is losing a game which you were in a position to win. Here, we were behind the 8-ball right from the word go and actually fought our way back into the competition and put up a score that gave us a chance, and then they got off to a flier. So, how we fought and put ourselves back into the game, for me, that’s nothing even remotely close to a choke out there. Just a serious contest between two good teams.”

Friday’s result was the latest in the long list of close encounters in the World Cup that South Africa will have nightmares about, joining the likes of the 1999 tied semifinal against Australia, the 2003 DLS debacle where they went out of the tournament at home in the group stage, losing in the 2007 semifinals and 2011 quarterfinals to Australia and New Zealand respectively. In the 2015 semifinals, they lost to New Zealand again while they failed to qualify for the knockout stage in 2019.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by PPS

You need to be in a winning position & then throw it away for it to be a choke! SA just didn't bat well.

While South Africa didn’t apply themselves while batting is true barring David Miller, they could have still won the match if they had taken the catches that popped up at crucial stages of the match and with some imaginative captaincy.

Travis Head who was also the top scorer had his catch missed twice when he was batting. Quinton De Cock also missed one at a very crucial stage when Australia were already 7 down and 25 odd runs still needed to win. Starc nicked once or even twice if I remember correctly, through the slip cordon getting boundaries in return and once when a short leg would have caught him out easy if fielders were put at the first place !!

As soon as Steve Smith was out, little imagination would have been enough to defeat Australia by applying some pressure by putting fielders at catching positions. Instead, they were allowed easy singles without even slip in place when Coetzee was bowling so so good.

South Africa literally gave up their winning chances down the Ganges by some pathetic captaincy by Bavuma. I wonder what was the team management doing during that time !!

Eden Gardens is one place where every team wants to bat first, put up a total and then defend under the lights when the pitch plays its part. South Africa did well to put up a total despite lacklustre batting when bowlers were getting swing due to overcast conditions but to not kill Australia when they were 7 down on a tricky pitch is somewhat not acceptable. Specially when Coetzee was bowling such good lengths during the last spell and his every ball seemed like a wicket taking one with the support of a proper field.

Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties but yesterday South Africa had the best chance to put it across Australia and enter the finals. Australia just got lucky, they were anyways playing the waiting game at the end. That they had to play 47 overs to achieve the target of 213 after getting 60 from the opening partnership tells us how Australia got out of the jail !!

[RoadTiger]

The Aussies are worthy finalists - tough opponents any time, mentally strong bunch with very decent allround skillsets.

Around India team composition for the finals, bringing in Ashwin may be a smart move. He is a very experienced bowler, who in addition to being very skillful can be fairly calm under pressure. That he can bat is an additional plus against an Aussie line-up that has a decent tail. He can come in place of Siraj, who while very impressive when on song can be easily put under pressure by the aggressive Aussie openers.

I doubt this will happen since Rohit/ Rahul are not known to make too many changes plus having only 20 overs of fast bowling (with no Pandya) can be a gamble if dew takes over and blunts the spinners.

This selection aside, good news is that India has managed to win even on days when their performances havent been pitch perfect.

Go India - and win it !

[Revvatron]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Not just recent. 2019 was the closest finals in the history of CWC. Next closest final was 1987 World Cup, when Border's Aussies edged England for their first World Cup.

I think we can put 1992 final as well in category of closely contested one. Eng were on course until Akram's brace from round the wicket. Since I only watched highlights so can't exactly comment on the ebbs and flows of the game.