AHMEDEBAD, India (AP) — Five-time champion Australia won the toss Sunday and decided to bowl against India in the Cricket World Cup final.
The match is being played at Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket venue with a seating capacity of 132,000. A world-record attendance for a cricket match was expected.
On the field, it was a clash of the best two sides in the tournament. Hosts and two-time champions India are unbeaten in 10 games — winning all nine round-robin games in dominant style before beating New Zealand in the semifinals at Mumbai.
It is attempting to win its third title in its fourth final appearance.
India has fielded an unchanged side from the Mumbai semifinal, where it beat the Black Caps by 70 runs. Australia has also fielded an unchanged X1 from the Kolkata semifinal, where it beat South Africa by three wickets.
India’s Virat Kohli, not surprisingly, has been the focal point for this Indian performance. Now the foremost one-day international batter in history with 50 centuries, he has scored 711 runs in 10 innings at average of 101.57. It is an insurmountable tally, with Sharma (550 runs) and Australia’s David Warner (528) well behind.
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Lineups:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Lokesh Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Australia: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
