Cummins Urges Australia To Embrace India Crowd Challenge In World Cup Final
Australia captain Pat Cummins has urged his side to "embrace" the challenge of facing a hostile crowd when they play in-form hosts India in Sunday's World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
Australia captain Pat Cummins has urged his side to "embrace" the challenge of facing a hostile crowd when they play in-form hosts India in Sunday's World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
A capacity crowd of 130,000 -- which would be a record for any cricket match -- is expected to roar on India, who have won all 10 of their matches en route to the showpiece game.
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The hosts are bidding for a third men's one-day international World Cup title and second on home soil after their 2011 triumph.
But five-time champions Australia are a team full of big-match performers who also know what it's like to play in cricket-crazy India from their time in the Indian Premier League.
"I think you've got to embrace it, the crowd's obviously going to be very one-sided," Cummins told a pre-match news conference at the Narendra Modi Stadium, named after the Indian prime minister, on Saturday.
"But also in sport, there's nothing more satisfying (as an opposition player) than hearing a big crowd go silent and that's the aim for us tomorrow."
The 30-year-old fast bowler added: "You've just got to embrace every part of it, every part of a final -- you know in the lead-up there's going to be noise and more people and interest and you just can't get overwhelmed.