After the Aussies secured their spot in the final of the ongoing ODI World Cup, which is set to be hosted at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, their bowling spearhead, Mitchell Starc, reserved high praise for hosts India, stating that they have been the best team in the tournament so far.
Speaking to media persons after the Baggy Greens narrowly clinched a victory over South Africa in the second semi-final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, Starc invoked the World Test Championship (WTC) final contested between the two teams earlier this year.
Starc mentioned that there would be pressure on both finalists during the final, saying, ‘Guys in both changing rooms have been there before in different formats. Both teams played each other in the (World Test Championship) Final earlier in the year. I don’t think either changing room is new to big occasions. It’s going to be loud. No doubt there’s going to be different amounts of pressure at different times on both teams. I think it’s just going to be a great spectacle of cricket. They’ve been the best in the tournament so far, and we both find ourselves in the finals.’
The Aussie pacer added that while his team came up short against the hosts in the league stage of the tournament, he was hopeful that the Baggy Greens would go one better against their bitter rivals in the match that matters. ‘We played them in our first game of the tournament; now we get to take them on in the last. What a place to be at the end of a World Cup,’ he added. In the league encounter with Australia, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli lifted the hosts out of a precarious situation to clinch a nervy, six-wicket win in Chennai.
However, the hosts, who remained unbeaten through the tournament’s league phase, stormed into the final after handing New Zealand, their nemesis from the 2019 semifinal, a 70-run defeat in the final-four clash at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. Australia, on the other hand, defeated South Africa by three wickets in the second semi-final on Thursday to book their passage to the final.
