Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar arrived at the Ahmedabad airport on Sunday, hours before the World Cup final clash between India and Australia.
Over the course of his illustrious career, spanning over two decades, numerous batting records fell to Tendulkar.
However, the ‘Master Blaster’ picked India’s successful World Cup campaign under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the most satisfying in his career.
He also dubbed the final, at the end of which Team India lifted the ODI World Cup trophy for the second time, as the “happiest day” of his career.
Since his final dance in the tournament, the ‘Men in Blue’ have come close to bringing the trophy home but tripped in the semi-final stage against Australia and New Zealand in the 2015 and 2019 editions of the quadrennial showpiece.
However, overcoming their 12-year semi-final jinx, India finally managed to seal their place in the ongoing World Cup after posting a comprehensive 70-run victory over the Kiwis at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
En route to the final, South Africa made Australia sweat in their chase of a humble target of 213 on a spiteful surface at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.
The hosts will square off against Australia for the first time in 20 years in the ODI World Cup final.
In the 2003 final, India suffered a crushing 125-run defeat at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
The ‘Men in Blue’, which has been nursing the wounds from 2003 and the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) earlier this year, will be eyeing payback as they square off with the ‘Baggy Greens’ on Sunday.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.
