India-Australia final: Pat Cummins takes a photo of the stadium and says: “I’m not a great article reader.” – Magazine Creations

The highly anticipated showdown between the two cricketing giants will be a fitting end to what has been an incredible event so far.

Addressing a press conference before the two teams square off in the battle to crown the new world champions, the Australia skipper also shed light on the controversy surrounding the last-minute change of pitch for the semi-final match between India and New Zealand.

Asked if he had had a look at the surface on which the final will be played, Cummins said: “Again, I’m not a great reader of pitches, but it looks pretty firm. They’ve just watered it, so yeah, give it another 24 hours and have a look,” But it looks like a very good wicket.”

Australia insists they will be “ready for anything” India throws at them in the Cricket World Cup final after controversy hit the tournament in a “pitch switch” row.

India have been the perfect team in the World Cup, winning all 10 matches on their way to Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad.

But there was controversy in the lead-up to the 70-run semi-final win over New Zealand in Mumbai after it emerged that the match was being played on the Wankhede Stadium which had already been used twice before during the tournament rather than a newly prepared surface. .

“There’s no doubt that playing on your own wicket for your country has some advantages,” Australia captain Pat Cummins said in a pre-match press conference on Saturday. “But we played a lot of cricket here.”

“We’ll be prepared in terms of anything they throw at us… We’ll make sure we have some plans.”

The stadium used did not have any major impact on Mumbai’s semi-final match, as more than 700 runs were scored in the match.

When Cummins was asked if he had actually seen the pitch for the final, he replied: “Yes, I just had a look. It looked pretty firm… I think Pakistan played one of the players there.”

India clashed with its arch-rivals Pakistan in Ahmedabad four weeks ago.

The hosts cruised to victory by seven wickets after winning the toss and dismissing their opponents for just 191.

The pitches used generally favor spinners, with slow bowling a key component of India’s five-man attack with Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja expected to bowl 20 of their 50 overs on Sunday.

Australia have already won the World Cup a record five times and the 30-year-old fast bowler Cummins, a member of the 2015 winning side, was excited to have the opportunity to emulate the likes of Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting by leading the team to glory on Sunday.

“It’s going to be huge,” he said. “We were all kids not so long ago, watching some of those great teams win the World Cup in 1999, 2003 and 2007.”

He added: “Being captain will be an absolute privilege…it will be amazing.

“It (the World Cup) has the longest history of a global event in which all teams compete.

“You only get a chance to do that every four years. So, even if you have a long career, you might only play in two of those events. 2015 is still a highlight for me, but I think if we win tomorrow, we might lose.” .