For the first time since March 2003, Australia and India will meet in the final of the Cricket World Cup.
Back then, it was Australia who decimated their rivals in a 125-run mauling at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Ricky Ponting blasted eight sixes on his way to an unbeaten 140-run haul and was ably supported by Damien Martyn’s knock of 88 from 84 deliveries.
That day, Australia were undoubtedly considered favourites.
Fast forward 20 years and the same foes are standing in opposite corners, ready to do battle for the holy grail of ODI cricket.
Yet it is India, the tournament hosts, who go into the final as the favoured side.
They were the only unbeaten team in the first stage of the tournament and went on to beat perennial World Cup contenders New Zealand by 70 runs in the semi-final, albeit not without plenty of controversy.
The contest was planned to be played on a fresh wicket, but it was changed at the last second to one that had been used twice in a call ratified by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
It was a decision that immediately sparked accusations of home nation bias, but the ICC claimed multiple pitch swaps have taken place throughout the World Cup.
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We may never know if there’s anything further to these late pitch swaps, but former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes a team as good as India shouldn’t need to resort to the dark arts.
“India just don’t need to get involved with that sort of business at the moment,” Vaughan wrote in a column for The Telegraph.
“They are too good for it.”
That they are, with a team that has Vaughan among many others in awe of their achievements at this World Cup.
In fact, he would be “extremely shocked” if India’s band of superstars couldn’t break a 12-year wait for ODI silverware.
“They have a top five all in brilliant form, and their best ODI bowling attack by a country mile,” Vaughan said.
“Their attack in 2011 was good, but this one is something else. Every one of the five goes for wickets.
“Usually in one-day cricket you have a couple of attacking bowlers and the rest are holding bowlers. Mohammed Shami has been ridiculously good.
“With the bat, Virat Kohli is in stupendous form and to score 50 ODI hundreds is extraordinary, and Shreyas Iyer has become a magnificent player.
“But for me, strangely, the underrated piece of the jigsaw is Rohit Sharma.
“I would go as far as to say he is my player of the tournament … I believe that without Rohit all this does not happen, and India do not get as good.”
Rohit has racked up an impressive 550 runs throughout the tournament at an average of 55.00, but his ability to lead a team under immense pressure has also been a vital part of India’s success to date.
Australia’s quicks have also struggled to take Rohit’s wickets over the years, too: Mitchell Starc has sent him packing just three times across 13 ODI games, Pat Cummins twice from 17 and Josh Hazlewood once in five.
At the other end of the order, Shami, as Vaughan stated, is a relentless beast with the ball in hand.
Shami leads the tournament with 23 wickets taken at a staggering economy of 5.01 and looms as another one of India’s stars set to seize control of the final.
As The Times’ chief cricket correspondent Mike Atherton wrote, it’s hard to find any flaws, if any, in this swashbuckling India team.
“It is rare that a cricket team can lay claim to having every player in form, but that is a reasonable boast for India right now,” Atherton wrote.
“They have six batsmen averaging more than 50 this tournament, and six bowlers averaging under 25.
“Their batting blends power, aggression and consistency and their bowling attack is potent and varied.”
But as good as India are and have been, there are always vulnerabilities in the underbelly and in the semi-final against New Zealand, we got a glimpse.
When Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell put the host nation under pressure throughout their impressive 181-run partnership, India did not exactly respond well.
They also settled on one bowler from the Indian attack to go at, Mohammed Siraj.
Former England skippers Nasser Hussain and Eoin Morgan believe Australia must follow a similar tactic if they are to beat the hosts.
And with a batting line-up that features three aggressors in the form of David Warner, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh at the top of the order, it could be the perfect tonic.
“I think they have to, because if they let the five bowlers bowl, you’re going to get a below-par score, so I think they have to,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“It won’t be someone in the meeting on Saturday night. I think on the day you have to sense which bowler is struggling and make Rohit do something different.”
Morgan concurred and believed the Aussie trio must go hard early to try and find out which Indian bowler will be the weak link.
That will only be more true on Sunday with Hardik Pandya (ankle) still unavailable, meaning India only has the five bowlers to call on and if one particularly struggles they will not be able to bring in someone else.
“The likes of Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head and Warner, apply that type of pressure and aggression to every single bowler and see who flinches first,” Morgan said.
“If you find you’re getting on top of one particular bowler, it might even be Mohammed Shami, when you’re playing against such a high quality bowling line-up, you have to sense opportunity on the day.”
Batters aside, Australia also possess a deadly weapon with the ball in the form of Adam Zampa.
The leading wicket taker of the group stage, Zampa has been a beacon of hope for the Australian team throughout the tournament and has delivered matchwinning performances.
Perhaps it is somewhat of a last dance for this Aussie crop, too.
Of the 15 players in the squad, only four are under the age of 30 and even then, only Cameron Green is under the age of 28.
But experience counts in high-pressure contests like these so a number of older and wiser heads is more of a help than a hindrance, especially given the cauldron of noise that awaits the Aussies in Ahmedabad.
“They will have to withstand an atmosphere that will be raucously in favour of the home team,” Atherton said.
“There will be a few more Australians in the crowd than there were for the Pakistan game, no doubt, but never will a World Cup final have felt so obviously partisan, given the capacity of the stadium at more than 100,000.”
Who knows if Australia will break a billion hearts at once, or if India secure just its Third World Cup.
Either way, it promises to be an absolute classic.
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