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IND-AUS Final: Cummins reveals Aussie strategy to tackle Ahmedabad crowd

Australian captain Pat Cummins feels that when the whole crowd is against you, the only way to tackle them is to silence them

Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins

BS Web Team New Delhi

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It is going to be 1,30,000 plus 11 Indians up against 11 Australians when India and Australia take on each other in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, November 19. Aussie skipper Pat Cummins, fully aware of this fact, has devised a plan to tackle this. 

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Speaking in the pre-match press conference in Ahmedabad on Saturday, November 18, Cummins said, “There's going to be 130,000 fans here supporting India. So, it's going to be awesome. But we know it’s going to be a packed house.”
 

Asked how he and the team would look to deal with the crowd, the 30-year-old said, “I think you've got to embrace it. The crowd's going to be very one-sided but it's also in sport there's nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that's the aim for us.”



Cummins said that he was aware of the noise that was going to be there in the lead-up to the final as well. “Yeah, you've just got to embrace every part of it, every part of a final even you know in the lead-up there's going to be noise and more people and interest and you just can't get overwhelmed. You got to be up for it, you got to love it and just know whatever happens it's fine but you just want to finish the day with no regrets,” added the Australian skipper. 

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Earlier during the India vs Pakistan clash in the ICC World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad, there were a lot of complaints of religious chantings and one side crowed support, with Pakistani supporters being denied visas for the World Cup. Australia though have received a fair bit of support every time they have travelled to India. David Warner and his Pushpa moves have kept the crowd glued to him every time he is on the field.

Cummins also feels that they have an advantage of knowing the crowd since a lot of them play a lot of cricket in India. “We play over here in India a lot so the noise is not something new - yeah, I think on this scale it's probably bigger than we would have experienced before but it's not something foreign to what we've had before,” he said, before going on to add about Warner’s fandom. “Everyone deals with it slightly differently you see Davey [Warner] probably dancing and winning the crowd over, other guys just staying in their bubble – yeah it should be good.”

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First Published: Nov 18 2023 | 1:34 PM IST

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