Kolkata, Nov 17: “We want to take on the best,” Mitchell Starc asserted after five-time champions Australia set up a mouth-watering World Cup summit showdown with tournament hosts India.
Heading into the final with a perfect 10 wins, India have been the team to beat in the World Cup, and Australia are relishing the challenge of crossing swords with the formidable home side.
Australia on Thursday prevailed over South Africa by three wickets in a see-saw contest at Eden Gardens.“We want to take on the best,” Starc said at the post-match media interaction.
“They’ve been the best in the tournament so far and we both find ourselves in the finals. So that’s what World Cups are about. It’s why we play the game.
“We certainly come up against a team that have obviously led from the front through the tournament and they’re undefeated,” Starc said.
Both teams had crossed swords in their opening fixture of the tournament in what turned out be a one-sided affair with India winning by six wickets after bowling them out for a paltry 199 in Chennai.
“We played them in the first game of the tournament, now we get to take them on in the last. So yeah, what a place to be at the end of a World Cup,” he added.
Chasing 213 against South Africa, their batters faltered against the South African spinners to make it a nervy win in the end.
Asked whether they would be wary of facing India’s spinners at Ahmedabad, he said: “I guess we’ll find out when we get to Ahmedabad tomorrow and see if it’s a fresh wicket or an old wicket.” The last time India played Australia in the World Cup final was back in 2003, when Starc was a sprightly 13-year-old boy.“Apart from Australia winning, I don’t know what happened in that game,” he said.He further said both teams are aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and he’s looking forward to the “spectacle” of facing India in front of a packed 130,000 crowd at Narendra Modi Stadium.“It’s a big occasion, it’s a World Cup final. Certainly, guys in both changing rooms have been there before at 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. There’s going to be a lot of passion there and no doubt there’s going to be different amounts of pressure at different times on both teams. (PTI)
