2023 Cricket World Cup Champion, India or Australia?

2023 Cricket World Cup has come to a end, India vs Australia contest will be a cracker of a final, with both teams truly deserving of this spot. The magnificent Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the iconic final on Sunday November 19th 2023.

India came into this final after beating New Zealand by 70 runs, and Muhammad Shami had a night to remember with seven wickets for 57 runs.

Australia defeated South Africa by 3 wickets and it was a low scoring contest.

Their new ball bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood set the tone for them with early wickets and put them at a misery of 40-odd for four down at one stage and they ended up with 212.

The men in yellow struggled a bit chasing the total but eventually got over the line.

Travis Head showcased his all-round performance and won the player of the match for his valuable 62 at the top alongside an economical bowling spell with conceding 21 runs in five overs with 2 important wickets.

2023 Cricket World Cup India vs Australia Champion

This is the last nail in the coffin for both sides, as winning this game will eventually make them the champions of this World Cup.

The game will be played in front of over 120,000 people, cheering for the home side with full zeal and zest, a confidence booster for the home team.

Both the teams had a highly dominating performance in the league stage, especially the men in blue, who clean-swept all nine teams.

On the flip side, the Aussies lost only two games, one obviously against India and the other against South Africa. They started this tournament with back-to-back defeats.

Since then, they never looked back and won seven games on the trot, eventually getting the semi-final berth easily.

Aussies become a deadly, dangerous side once they get into the semis as they know how to win these big knockout games and conquer the opposition psychologically in pressure situations.

The men in yellow are the only side that could give a tough fight to India in their backyard and have the potential to punch their sixth World Cup trophy.

India vs Australia Head to Head history

India and Australia have locked horns 150 times in ODI cricket. Kangaroos are dominant in this race, having won 83 times compared to their opponent, who won 57 times, whereas 10 games ended without any result

In the ODI World Cups, the two giants met 13 times, and the Aussies succeeded eight times compared to the hosts, who won only five times.

It is visible that Australia has gotten the better of team India in bilateral series and ICC world cups, which gives them a lot of edge coming into this game.

Probable man-of-the-match award winner

Virat Kohli

Whenever there is an Indian game, it is unjustified if we don't speak about Virat Kohli and his impact. He has been going through his purple patch and already scored three hundreds in the ongoing World Cup.

The Indian stalwart scored his 50th ODI century in the semi-final of this World Cup last Wednesday, and he meant business from the start of that innings at Wankhede.

This could be the last World Cup of Virat Kohli, and he would give his everything to win it for his side.

India would need him to step up for one last time in Ahmedabad and get the job done for his country.

The right-hander has scored over 700 runs in this competition and has passed his idol Sachin Tendulkar, who piled up 673 runs in the 2003 world cup.

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer is another talented cricketer from India who has set this World Cup on fire with his bliggerent batting.

The 28-year right-hander has scored over 500 runs in the competition and will be one to watch out for in the grand finale.

He is coming into this final on the back of an exquisite hundred in Wankhede stadium against New Zealand and has loads of confidence on his back.

The number four is a critical position in ODI cricket, and players need a lot of adaptability to bat at this number.

Some days, they get a good start from their top three, and their role is to attack and finish well for their team.

On other days, there needs to be some resilience to go through the tough period and build a partnership in case the top order falls early.

Shreyas Iyer has done both jobs very efficiently and deserves a lot of applause for that effort.

The good thing about this current Indian team is how their players express themselves without fear of failure, making them brutally invincible.

Muhammad Shami

The Indian bowling attack deserves a heap of praise in this World Cup for dismantling different batting attacks in certain conditions.

The men in blue remained unbeaten in the points table, and their bowlers made an invaluable contribution to making that happen.

Muhammad Shami is one character who was unfortunate to miss their first few games.

Since Hardik Pandya's injury, he became a permanent member of the playing xi, making everyone realize that ousting him from the team was not a wise decision.

The right-arm quick is now the highest wicket-taker of this competition with 23 wickets in only six games, which is a mind-blowing stat.

He is coming fresh into this game after a man-of-the-match performance in the semi-final, where he made a difference between two teams with his bowling.

The lethal Shami ended with seven scalps in 10 overs, conceding only 57 runs on a belter of a surface where 700 + runs were scored.

India vs Australia Match Prediction

It will be a very close contest as India is up against monstrous five-time champions Australia, which knows how to win world cups.

The biggest advantage in favor of Men in Blue is their 12th man, with around 130k people in the stadium cheering for them.

Surely, it puts a team in a much better position to have such tremendous home support.

The hosts have come to this point undefeated and have a wonderful chance to win this championship unbeaten.

From the current form India will be ahead in this game because of home support, more familiar with conditions and loads of confidence behind.

This should not be a surprise if they manage to get past this glory for the third time in the history of ICC world cups.

Australia, with their brutal mentality, will give them a tough time, but surely, this Indian team hardly has any loopholes that could be exploited, be it in batting or bowling.

They are probably playing their best form of cricket right now, and most of their players are at their peak. Surely, they are not relying on any single individual.