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MS Dhoni has urged Chennai Super Kings’ batters to take “ownership”, after a middle-overs slump cost them victory against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday night. Chasing 176, Super Kings were well placed at 78 for 1 in the tenth over before Royals’ spinners got to work, reducing them to 113 for 6 by the end of the 15th.Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja nearly pulled off an improbable win with their end-overs hitting – the match ended with Super Kings one hit away from victory having needed 54 from 18 balls at one stage – but the Super Kings captain suggested after the match that it needn’t have come down to that situation in the first place.Related

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“I think [we lost it] in the middle [overs while batting], we needed a bit more strike rotation,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “I don’t think there was a lot [of help] for the spinners. Yes, they have experienced spinners, so they bowled very well. They were bowling the right length, but I felt in that period you have [we had] too many dot balls.”If the wicket is slow, if it’s stopping and turning, then I can understand, but with the set batsman and the new batsman going in, I don’t think it was that difficult. So I think the ownership needs to come from the batsmen.”Super Kings needed 21 at the start of the final over, and the responsibility of bowling it fell to Sandeep Sharma. He started with two wides to Dhoni, and low full-tosses off his second and third legal deliveries that Dhoni smacked for leg-side sixes. Thereafter, however, Sandeep pulled things back smartly, nailing his yorkers after changing angle to go around the wicket to Dhoni.Dhoni faced two of the last three balls, only managing to drag them along the ground for singles. In between, Sandeep bowled one ball to Jadeja, angling it away from the left-hander’s hitting arc from over the wicket and conceding another single.Sandeep explained his thought process when he was interviewed by after the match.”In the last over, I wanted to execute yorkers,” he said. “I’ve been bowling good yorkers in the nets. One side of the ground was bigger, so I thought I would use it and bowl at the [batter’s] heel but they turned out to be low full-tosses and went for six. Then I changed my plan and went around the wicket, hoping for a change, and it was good that the result was different.”I bowled over the wicket to Jaddu and my plan was to keep the ball away from his reach. The shots he hit to Jason [Holder] were down the ground. So my plan was to take it away from his reach. And to Mahi , my plan was to change the angle as I got hit for two sixes while bowling at the heel from over the wicket. So I went around the wicket and bowled it wide, and changed the angle.”

At 1:35am on the third day of a T20 match, Chennai Super Kings emerged as the new IPL champions, winning their fifth title to draw level with Mumbai Indians.Ravindra Jadeja pierced the silence built by tens of thousands of people when he hit the final two balls of an incredible, chaotic, unbelievable chase for boundaries. One straight in front of him. The other behind.An equation of 171 off 15 overs reduced to 13 off one. Mohit Sharma made it even tougher – 10 off two balls. CSK hadn’t hit a boundary in 13 balls. They had, however, lost two wickets. One of them was MS Dhoni, for a duck.That was looking like it might be his last act on a cricket field. He will be 42 soon. He said preparing for the IPL at his age was taking a “heavy toll”. When he came in, Ahmedabad broke the sound barrier. When he left, the crowd was bereft.But, an hour and a half later, they looked on, having suffered through the rain, braving difficult journeys to and from the ground, as their hero walked up onto the podium and picked up his fifth IPL trophy. In a rare show of emotion, once the winning runs were hit, Dhoni wrapped his arms around Jadeja and lifted him clean off the ground. That’s how much it meant to him. It even convinced him to keep playing for another year.None of this would have been possible though without the impact of Ambati Rayudu. He tweeted that this would be his final IPL match. When he walked out, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster suggested CSK only had a 35% chance of victory. He lashed Mohit for 6, 4 and 6 and with those three hits, his team became overwhelming favourites – 93%.Ravindra Jadeja finished the job for CSK with a six and a four on the last two balls•AFP/Getty Images

The highlights

The IPL final began on May 28. Not a ball was bowled because of rain. Then it shifted to May 29. Two-hundred and ten balls took six hours to be bowled because of another weather intervention.B Sai Sudharsan made the final the spectacle it was. The 21-year old Chennai boy took it to his hometown franchise, scoring 96 runs off 47 balls. Mohit made it last the distance. He came back from the Rayudu assault to pick up two wickets in two balls.Later, facing some of the greatest pressure a player can be under – bowling the last over with an IPL final on his shoulders – he nailed three perfect off-stump yorkers that were simply unhittable.Super Kings had been propped up by yet another strong opening partnership from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. But once the field spread – after four overs – they found the going tougher. Especially against Noor Ahmad. The 18-year old left arm wristspinner did not concede a single boundary in a spell of 3-0-17-2. His Afghanistan team-mate though was battered around.Rashid Khan was about to finish his spell well. The first four balls of his last over went for just three runs. The rest went for 12. Shivam Dube got the tossed up balls he wanted and he smashed them both for sixes.CSK needed to go 6, 6, 6, 4, 6 between the 12th and the 13th overs just to get ahead in this game. They were trailing until that five-ball sequence. Imagine being the Titans right now. Those five balls – and then the last two – ended up deciding their fate.Ambati Rayudu joined Rohit Sharma as the only men to win six IPL titles•BCCI

They finally roar for Jadeja

At the end of the league stage, Jadeja had a strike rate of 149.47 between overs 15 and 20. That is the lowest of the 14 finishers who have faced at least 75 balls in this phase. His closest competitor for a place in the Indian team in T20 cricket – Axar Patel – was up at 175.55.To make matters worse, every time he fell, he was greeted to the sound of the crowd roaring as one for the incoming batter. Dhoni. It got to the point where he rounded on the fans, in jest of course, and, in response, the next time he walked out to the middle, the Chepauk DJ played a song called , which in Tamil translates to ‘will you forgive me?’Jadeja faced only six balls in the final. He was at the crease for only 13. There were no boundaries hit for the duration of his stay … until the penultimate ball. A yorker that fell only inches short from Mohit was launched down the ground, and then the last ball, another attempted yorker that became a low full toss, was flicked to the left of short fine.Chennai would have roared as one. This time for Jadeja.

The blinder from Rayudu

CSK needed 72 from 36. Eleven balls, two fours and a wicket later, they needed 54 from 25 and that’s what Rayudu walked into. He has played 204 matches in his IPL career, which began in 2010. This season he’s had to play a reduced role. He was CSK’s Impact Player at the start. None of his innings lasted more than 17 balls. Yet he kept telling his team-mates in the dressing room that he would win the final for them. Deepak Chahar made a point of saying that by cutting across Rayudu himself when he was doing an interview with the host broadcaster.The second six he hit was especially stunning. Off an into-the-wicket slower ball that was designed to rob the batter of his balance, Rayudu kept his, and smashed it over extra cover. As far as cameos go, this 19 off 8 will remain long in memory.B Sai Sudharsan hit six sixes in his 47-ball 96•BCCI

The forgotten hero

Sudharsan arrived on the back of a stumping that Dhoni pulled off in 0.1 seconds to get rid of Shubman Gill. He was 10 off 12 with no boundaries after 11 overs. He was the man that had to retire out in Qualifier 2 so Titans could get a better ball-striker in. But even that night, they let Sudharsan bat till the start of the 20th over and only then pulled him out. They trust this guy. They trust all their guys. That’s their whole thing.Sudharsan seems to understand his limitations. And that gives him his power. He can’t hit sixes like Tim David or Suryakumar Yadav. Even the ones he manages to hit look like they take a lot out of him. That bat goes as high as it can in the back-lift and comes thundering down. He holds nothing back because he knows he can’t afford to.Defensive bowling is all about protecting one side of the pitch. Usually, the leg side. That’s why most teams station more men in the deep there. It’s instinct to slog the ball in T20s.But Sudharsan is different. He is a really good off-side player. On Monday, he found six of his eight fours there. Two of them were slaps in the face of CSK’s plans. In the 17th over, with mid-off and cover up and Tushar Deshpande trying to tuck him up on middle and leg, Sudharsan made room and flat-batted two beautiful boundaries where he knew he didn’t need power. Just placement.This was part of a three-over period in which he scored all of the Titans’ boundaries – three sixes and five fours. When a batter pillages runs both sides of the wicket, the opposition unravels.No CSK bowler was spared. Not even Matheesha Pathirana. He had gone entire games – 9 of 14 – without giving away as many runs as he did on Monday to just one player. Sudharsan whacked the Sri Lankan sensation for 34 in 14 balls.

Offspinner Leigh Kasperek will replace medium-pacer Jess Kerr for New Zealand’s tour to Sri Lanka. Kasperek, who last played an international game in September 2021, returns after Kerr was struck on the toe while batting in the nets. A subsequent scan revealed that Kerr will need six weeks of rehabilitation.Kerr’s injury came early last week, with the team set to leave for Sri Lanka on Thursday. Speaking about the timing of the injury, New Zealand head coach Ben Sawyer said, “Picking up an injury so close to departure for a tour is always disappointing.”Jess has been working really hard over the winter,” Sawyer said. “We were excited to see how she would perform in new conditions for her, but we’re confident she will be back fit and ready for our next challenge after Sri Lanka.”Related

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Kasperek is the second-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand in T20Is, and for Wellington Blaze in the 2022-23 Super Smash and Hallyburton Johnstone Shield – New Zealand’s domestic T20 and 50-over competitions respectively.”Leigh has had a challenging 18 months since the World Cup but has always been a player that has been on our radar,” Sawyer said.”She’s been kept out of the side given the form of Fran (Jonas) and Eden (Carson) who’ve been performing consistently well and those spin positions have probably been the most hotly contested in our team.”Leigh Kasperek has 75 wickets in T20Is•Getty Images

But unlike Kerr, Kasperek will benefit from the spin-friendly conditions in Asia. Sawyer sees that as an upside that will bolster their existing resources.”With Leigh, Fran, Eden and Melie (Amelia Kerr) we have strong depth in our spin-bowling stocks, and ultimately that’s the level of depth we want to get to in all positions.”Leigh brings a wealth of international experience to the group and I’m sure she will thrive in the Sri Lankan conditions if given an opportunity.”New Zealand’s tour will start on June 27 with the first of three ODIs in Galle. The teams will then shift to Colombo for three T20Is to cap off the tour.

Under bright skies and on an Oval pitch that seemed to ease out against all expectations, India’s batters set up a potentially thrilling final day, racing to 164 for 3 at more than four an over to keep alive their pursuit of a world-record fourth-innings target. Australia remain favourites, with India needing a further 280 on the final day, but they may have a lot of hard work ahead of them to take the seven remaining wickets, with the second new ball 40 overs away.India may have still felt a little cross with themselves at stumps, though, losing perhaps a wicket more than they would have liked by then, two of them to aggressive shots. Rohit Sharma was lbw to Nathan Lyon, missing a sweep from a stump-to-stump line, and Cheteshwar Pujara toe-ended an attempted ramp over the slips off a Pat Cummins bouncer.Both batters will argue, though, that these are shots they usually play well. They will also argue that the same positivity had helped them stitch a second-wicket stand of 51 in 77 balls. The two wickets, however, fell in the space of five balls, turning 92 for 1 to 93 for 3.It was the perfect opening for Australia to bulldoze through, but Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were having none of it. They ended the day reprising the same positivity that had gone before, putting on an unbroken 71 for the fourth wicket, with both batters looking in excellent ball-striking rhythm. Conditions, too, didn’t seem to test them, with the pitch showing far less tendency to produce inconsistent bounce than it had done through the first three innings of the match. Kohli and Rahane ended the day with control percentages of 93 and 97 respectively.As they safely negotiated the last over of the day, a largely India-supporting crowd was in fine voice, a section of them belting out this number from the 1975 blockbuster : ” [we’ll never break this friendship].” Australia will want to break it as soon as possible when day five dawns.The crowd had been far less pleased some two hours earlier, though, after India lost their first wicket off what ended up as the last ball before tea, following a near-run-a-ball opening partnership of 41. Scott Boland got one to straighten and kick in the corridor, Shubman Gill pushed at it with hard hands, and Cameron Green dived low to his left to pluck out a superlative gully catch, his second of the match. Gill stood his ground, though, and the decision went up to the third umpire. As is often the case with these low grabs, replays seemed inconclusive, but the decision went in Australia’s favour.Chants of “Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!” continued to follow Green through the rest of the evening, particularly when he bowled. A World Test Championship that had been full of quality cricket now had the one ingredient it had been missing: controversy and needle.1:37

Was Green’s catch to dismiss Gill clean?

During the first session of the day, Green had had a far different effect on the crowd, keeping them quiet as he added 18 runs in 87 balls to his overnight score of 7. His dismissal was in keeping with the tone of his innings: he attempted to pad away a Ravindra Jadeja delivery from over the wicket only for the ball to hit his pad and roll onto the wicket.By then, Australia had added 44 to their overnight 123 for 4 while losing two wickets in 19 overs – Marnus Labuschagne the other batter dismissed, nicking Umesh Yadav to first slip. India had bowled with discipline while extracting just enough from the surface to keep the batters vigilant; with Australia’s lead just 340, they may have hoped to wrap their innings up before it got to 400.Alex Carey, however, ensured that it swelled well beyond that figure, scoring an opportunistic 66 to go with his 48 in the first innings, and putting on 93 for the seventh wicket with Mitchell Starc. Both batters began cautiously and had their moments of discomfort, particularly against Jadeja finding sharp turn and bounce from the footmarks outside the left-handers’ off stump, but grew increasingly confident as India’s quicks tired.Mohammed Shami, who had bowled frugally and beaten the bat multiple times without any reward in his previous spells, came back when India took the second new ball and dismissed Starc and Pat Cummins when they were looking to slog for quick runs. Australia declared at the stroke of Cummins’ dismissal, setting India a never-before-achieved 444 to win.It may have been a nostalgia-inducing moment among old-timers at the ground. In 1979, a Sunil Gavaskar double-hundred had inspired India to a thrilling draw at The Oval; they finished on 429 for 8 after being set 438 by England. There’s still a chance that Sunday may bring similar levels of excitement.

Usman Khawaja has played a key role in ensuring players are not hit as hard in the pocket and potentially saved teams from World Test Championship (WTC) points deductions after he revealed he raised the issue of slow over-rate punishments with the ICC.After their recent AGM in Durban, the ICC announced amendments to their sanctions for slow over-rates: players will now be fined 5% of their match fee for each over a team is down (previously it was 20%) with the level capped at 50%, reduced from the previous upper limit of their entire match fee.Alongside the changes to the fines element, over-rate penalties will not kick in if a team is bowled out inside 80 overs instead of the earlier mark of 60 overs giving sides more leeway before WTC points are deducted – an element the ICC believed it was important to retain.Khawaja explained he had directly approached Wasim Khan, the ICC’s general manager cricket, having got to know him through his time at the PSL, to raise players’ concerns about the level of punishments using the example of the entertaining and results-driven cricket being produced in the ongoing Ashes.Related

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The new rulings will be backdated to the start of the current WTC cycle which began with the Ashes. Players from both teams were fined 40% of their match fee at Edgbaston and docked two WTC points apiece, while heavier sanctions were on the line for the Lord’s Test.Australia were also fined 80% (four overs behind) of their match fee in the WTC final while India were docked 100% (five overs behind) but there were no points deductions at stake in that game.”I was pretty frustrated with what was happening,” Khawaja said at Old Trafford ahead of the fourth Ashes Test. “I just thought someone has to find a way to speak to the ICC about it. We had played three games and they’d been three really good games with results, [providing] entertainment and we were getting fined 80% of our match fee. It’s a lot of money.”[It’s] just really frustrating as a player, you are giving it your all out there, providing entertainment, then you are getting stung for it.”Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald also became involved while at ICC level, the reduced punishments were quickly pushed through during the Durban meeting, although there remained areas of compromise with Khawaja saying he hoped it would have been 2.5% of the match fee for every over behind and even more leeway given if a positive result is achieved.”Wasim was really good,” he said. “We talked [and] he took the feedback. To his credit, it wasn’t just listening and no action. Actions happened within one or two weeks. We are trying to go as fast as we can. It’s the conditions that make it hard for us. If you are in India, we are never behind the over-rate [with] two spinners going at it. We were getting results, that’s what was frustrating. Think England were frustrated with it, too.”I appreciate the ICC actually listening to players. It’s the first time I have had that with the ICC. Think it’s a really good step forward.”Australia, WTC 2023 champions, missed out on qualifying for the final in 2021 due to over-rate penalty•Getty Images

While the ICC has yet to confirm the new levels of fines and points deductions for the early Ashes Tests, Australia could benefit from the new regulations as they bowled out England within 80 overs in their second innings at Edgbaston.At Lord’s, the over-rates were again significantly down with both sides facing losing their entire match fees and a significant number of points. Now, however, it’s understood Australia stand to lose two WTC points (alongside a 10% fine) as only England’s second innings extended beyond 80 overs, which may yet be significant as the 2020-21 cycle showed when Australia narrowly missed the final but is far less severe than it might have been. England, though, still face much heavier punishment as Australia’s innings both exceeded 80 overs, although the financial element will be reduced under the new system.An Australian player receives AUD$18,000 per Test match, so for those involved at Lord’s, if the fine was reduced from 100% of the match fee to 10%, they would benefit to the tune of more than $16,000 each.”I’m still pushing for, if you get a result in the game before tea on the last day, you shouldn’t get a fine,” Khawaja added. “You’ve got you what you wanted. It’s cricket. You’ve got laws and rules. They’ve been there for a very long time. Sometimes you just have to look back on them and to see if you need an update a little bit.”Sourav Ganguly, who is the chair of the Men’s Cricket Committee and sits on the ICC’s chief executive committee, said: “The Men’s Cricket Committee felt strongly that over-rate penalties in the form of WTC points deductions should remain but recommended that players should not have 100% of their match fee at risk. We believe this provides a balance between maintaining over-rates and ensuring we are not deterring players from playing Test cricket.”

Ravi Shastri believes India have the upper hand in Saturday’s Asia Cup game against Pakistan in Pallekele, but only just.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on the eve of the fixture, Shastri said that Pakistan were a much improved side, and have “narrowed the gap” with India, but the strength of India’s line-up and an experienced captain in Rohit Sharma gave them the advantage.”I would say India start as favourites. This is their strongest team since 2011, this mix of players,” Shastri said. “And a captain who is seasoned, who understands the terrain better than most.”Having said that, Pakistan have narrowed the gap. Seven-eight years [ago], there was a gap if you looked at the strength of both teams and man to man. But Pakistan have narrowed it down. They are a very good side, so you have to be on top of your game.”Related

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Shastri feels that when it comes to a high-pressure, high-stakes contest like India vs Pakistan, player form is less important than player temperament, which makes the real difference.”That’s what’s important, keeping calm and treating it as just another game,” he said. “And not overhype it in your mind that makes you think differently. Your game has to be the same as it would be in any other game. But because of that subconscious pressure, it’s the mentally tough guys who normally get it right.”When you look at the mix of players on either side, they are fabulous. And it will be a spectacle. In an India-Pakistan game, it is about who handles pressure better, who is calmer, whose thought process is clear. Those are the guys who will come through in those big occasions.”And never go by form before an India-Pakistan game, because the tough-minded, mentally strong guys might not have done much six months back, but come the India-Pakistan game, they will come [to the fore]. They know the importance of that game, they know where it can catapult them if they do well. Their juices will be fired up.”

Shastri: Must convert starts to big scores, like Babar does

Shastri believes that all batters looking to succeed in crunch games need to follow Babar Azam’s approach. Babar, the Pakistan captain, scored his 19th ODI century in the opening game of the Asia Cup against Nepal, and Shastri feels other batters need to example.”He [Babar] converts those 30s and 40s starts into hundreds,” Shastri pointed out. “And it is so important. We keep saying to go out there and face a number of balls, but if one of your top three gets a hundred, you get 300-plus.”Fielding will be crucial [too], you’ll have to see which team fields better. Sri Lanka won the last Asia Cup on [the back of their] fielding. They’ve long been the best fielding side in the subcontinent, right from 1996. They were outstanding in the last Asia Cup. They are holders, let’s not forget, so don’t discount them in Sri Lankan conditions. If India’s fielding raises their bar, then they’ll be an even stronger side.”

by 108 runsNorthamptonshire fought back hard after Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s career-best bowling put Warwickshire on top on the second day of their LV=Insurance County Championship tussle at Edgbaston.Hannon-Dalby’s superb seven for 46 sent the visitors all out for just 250 in a match they must win to preserve any realistic hopes of avoiding relegation.That total looks a little under par but Jack White (three for 37) then led a big-hearted effort from Northamptonshire’s bowlers who made the home batters work very hard to reach 142 for four from 55 overs in reply.The match remains in the balance on a pitch which has assisted the seamers throughout. Hannon-Dalby will be on a hat-trick in the second innings when he will be hunting the three wickets he needs to reach 100 in two seasons – he is now on 44 this year to add to last season’s 53.After resuming on the second morning on 200 for five, Northamptonshire lost two wickets to the new ball as Saif Zaib edged Hannon-Dalby behind and Lewis McManus’ 97-minute resistance for 25 was ended by an outswinger by Chris Rushworth.Hannon-Dalby then polished off the tail. Tom Taylor edged to second slip before Simon Kerrigan fell lbw and White played on next ball. When Northamptonshire bat again, for the third time in 27 days, Hannon-Dalby will start his next bowl on a hat trick.Warwickshire also found run-gathering an arduous business. Kraigg Brathwaite, on his home debut, eked nine from 58 minutes before edging a lifter from White. Rob Yates prised 23 from nearly two hours before slicing Luke Procter to second slip.Will Rhodes (44, 92 balls) produced the most assertive batting of the day before skying White to third man. Sam Hain, on his last county appearance of the season following his England call-up, collected a workmanlike 30 that is unlikely to figure in his memoirs then was trapped in front by the impressive White.Fifth-wicket pair Dan Mousley and Ed Barnard survived intact, albeit while adding to the considerable number of play-and-misses in this match, but a strong first hour tomorrow morning would pour belief into Northamptonshire’s bid for a great escape.

Big picture: The team of this tournament vs the team that tends to win these tournaments

It feels a little like we are in the eye of the cyclone. Over the last few weeks, this World Cup had become a furious whirl of irresistible narratives. There was Virat Kohli’s tenacious run to 50 ODI hundreds, Glenn Maxwell’s fastest World Cup hundred, then that manic 201* against Afghanistan, a timed-out dismissal sparking major controversy, New Zealand pushing the big teams close but not quite making it, Pakistan’s exit setting off major reshuffles at home, Sri Lanka nosediving into a deep administrative and cricketing ravine, Bangladesh engaging in some soul-searching of their own, and Afghanistan orchestrating the most captivating campaign of the tournament but disovering there is a ceiling for them still.Sadly some of this has overshadowed the news that umpire Kumar Dharmasena is launching his own perfume.Related

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In the cyclone’s eye, because this tournament deserves a dramatic finish, and the stage seems set for one. The final really does feel like the culmination of all the events since October 5. For a start, there can be no doubt these are the best teams of the competition. India have dominated the tournament so far to such an extent that their average winning margin batting first is 175 runs, and on average they have won with 64.4 balls to spare while chasing. Only Australia’s stomping march to the 2007 World Cup final rivals these numbers.Australia had found themselves bottom of the table after two matches, thanks partly to India having eased to victory in these teams’ tournament opener. But they have since put together a sequence of eight victories. Where India have tended to crush their oppositions from the outset, Australia have had major scares to survive (like being 91 for 7 chasing 292 against Afghanistan), white-hot spells to see out (like Tabraiz Shamsi in the semi-final), determined opposition chases to weather (like New Zealand’s in Dharamsala).Rather than being wearied by these intense passages of play, Australia have perhaps been tempered by them. As they had lost series to South Africa and India in the lead-in to this tournament, they had not been favourites on current form, anyway. On top of which theirs has been an imperfect campaign: Mitchell Starc only really came good in the semi-final, Steven Smith has not hit top gear, powerplay wickets have sometimes been in short supply.India have been as close to perfect as you could imagine. Twice they’ve bowled out oppositions for below 80. Of the five times they’ve batted first, they surpassed 350 on three occasions, and got 326 for 5 on another. Their fielding has been exemplary. Four of their top five have hit hundreds over the course of the campaign, and the other – Shubman Gill – still averages 50 and has struck at 108.02.They have also fed off, rather than been overwhelmed by, their roaring home crowds, Virat Kohli directing entire stadiums like an orchestra conductor. In fact, watching India in their grand stadiums in this World Cup has at times felt like a grand, synchronous performance – every instrument in tune, every voice in perfect pitch, all the broader forces acting on the match advancing the march toward’s India’s glory.If there is one team that might not be daunted by more than 100,000 fans in the biggest stadium the sport has, however, it is Australia. Pat Cummins has suggested as much: they will embrace the silence that has tended to fill stadiums when India wickets have fallen, or an opposition has hit a boundary. Many in their team have been part of World Cup finals before, and many have won. Five members of the likely Australia XI were in the 2015 World Cup final, and a few others still won the T20 World Cup in 2021.And perhaps being battle-tested counts for something too. If the game gets close, Australia have had more recent experience in such situations, and have a long-term history in keeping themselves sharp and collected. For all the data that has now swept cricket, this is still a game played by human beings ruled at times by emotion.Still, will India even let Australia get close? So far in this World Cup, India have been like the sun, and Australia like Jupiter – the next-most massive body in the solar system, but dwarfed still by the greater celestial body.

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
Australia WWWWW2:12

Kumble: ‘Don’t see toss being that much of a factor’

In the spotlight

Mohammed Shami has played six matches in this tournament, having only come into the team post Hardik Pandya’s exit. He’s since taken a tournament-high 23 wickets at 9.13, with an economy rate of 5.01. Three times he’s taken five wickets, and once he’s taken four. There are excellent reasons to put Jasprit Bumrah’s name down on the team sheet first, but in terms of wicket-seekers, there has been no bowler better than Shami, constantly coming at the stumps, often muddling batters’ brains to such an extent that they are forced to play wild shots. Shami is also part of the reason why India – who very arguably have the best pace attack of the competition (that they have the best overall attack is more widely accepted) – can prosper on any kind of deck, even the low, slow ones. The Ahmedabad pitch for this game is a used deck. You have to expect Shami wickets.Pat Cummins has the chance to join the Australian pantheon of World-Cup-winning captains, something he will obviously savour. But for the neutral cricket lover, there is a more exclusive, and perhaps more impressive list: fast-bowling World-Cup-winning captains, of whom there are only two – Imran Khan and Kapil Dev.Cummins has had a decent tournament, but perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect. He’s averaged 37 with the ball, with an economy rate of 6.05. His more memorable contributions have been with the bat. He batted out 68 balls against Afghanistan so Maxwell could play innings, and on Thursday, his 14 not out against South Africa was an important contribution in a string of important contributions that saw Australia through to the final. When he has taken wickets, though, they have tended to be important ones – the dismissal of centurion David Miller in that semi-final a case in point.If there is a criticism to be made here, perhaps it’s that he’s occasionally been too rigid with his captaincy. Why not bowl out Josh Hazlewood when he’s had such spectacular first and second spells, against South Africa, for example? Why give Mitchell Starc the vital last over against New Zealand, when Starc had had struggled in that game? And yet also, he has also embodied the resilience his team has shown since going 2-0 down early.

Pitch and conditions

This is the same track that was used for the India-Pakistan match in the second week of the World Cup, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be a low-scoring match. Cummins has said he doesn’t have any issues with it and there is an extended story on the surface here.There may be some dew to contend with, however. With there being an early winter nip in the air in the evenings, the dropping of temperature after sunset may make for a soggy ball, though there is also a chemical sprayed on the grass to mitigate the dew’s effects.There is no rain forecast. The temperature will be in the low 30 degrees celsius range in the hottest parts of the day.

Team news

There has been no indication from either team that their semi-final XIs will need any tinkering with. India, certainly, seem to have their set XI.India (likely): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Mohammed Shami, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mohammed Siraj.Australia may think about bringing Marcus Stoinis into the team ahead of Marnus Labuschagne, but against an attack of India’s quality, Labuschagne may be the choice again, as it was in the semi-final.Australia (likely): 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Josh Inglis (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Stats and trivia

• Six of the likely players across the two teams have played in a World Cup final before (Kohli, Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Starc, Hazlewood). They all won their first final.
• Jasprit Bumrah is ranked only joint fifth in terms of wicket-takers this World Cup, with 18 dismissals. But his economy rate is 3.98. To find a better economy rate on the wicket takers’ list, you have to scroll all the way down to 78th, to R Ashwin, who took a single wicket and went at 3.4 runs an over in the one match he played.
• Mitchell Starc is third on the all-time World Cup wicket-takers’ list, with 62 to his name. But he will need six wickets to match Muttiah Muralitharan, the second-highest wicket taker behind Glenn McGrath.
• Mohammed Shami, meanwhile, is already India’s most-successful World Cup wicket taker, and will surpass two bona-fide ODI greats on the list if he takes three wickets. Shami is currently on 54 World Cup dismissals, Wasim Akram (fifth on the overall list) had 55, and Lasith Malinga finished on 56.

Quotes

“The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided but it’s also in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins on playing in a packed Ahmedabad stadium“We know the expectations, and the pressure, and the criticism. This is not just now, this has been happening since game number one. We have tried to maintain that calmness around the dressing room. Even on the field, when there is a situation where we have been put under pressure, we try to stay calm and just react to that pressure.”
India captain Rohit Sharma on the immense expectation on his team.