India takes on Australia. The World Cup final in 2023. The unbeaten hosts face the most successful World Cup squad in an eight-match winning streak. This is the final act.
Hundreds of records have been broken over the tournament’s 47 matches. The majority of them have resulted in runs.
Despite the various circumstances in India and the uncertainty of the round-robin structure, hitters have taken full advantage of the ODI format’s tilt in their favor and struck a record amount of hundreds, sixes, and fours.
Except for a few outliers like Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa, and Dilshan Madushanka, the bowlers have generally played defensive roles. While Shami and Madhushanka cast some incredible spells, Zampa demonstrated unrivaled consistency.
In the final, there are several records at stake. Three of these records belong to batters, while two belong to bowlers. Let’s take a look at them below:
1. Rohit Sharma Fastest to 1,600 World Cup Runs
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma may not be the run-accumulator he was in the 2019 World Cup, but he is still among the tournament’s leading scorers. He has 550 runs with a strike rate of 124.15 in 10 matches.
This brings his World Cup total to 1,528 runs from 27 innings, which ranks seventh in tournament history. He will become the fastest to 1600 World Cup runs if he scores 72 more runs in the final, in his 28th innings.
Sachin Tendulkar was the quickest of the three hitters to reach the milestone, taking 29 innings. Virat Kohli just reached it in 35 innings, while former Australian captain Ricky Ponting needed 39 innings.
2. Kohli Needs 3 Runs to Eclipse Tendulkar’s World Cup Record vs AUS
There has been much discussion regarding the 2003 World Cup final between these two teams and how it left a generation of Indian supporters wounded. That’s because the current Australian squad is outstanding, but the one from that era was well beyond and beyond the Men in Blue’s reach.
In World Cups, certain statistics highlight an interesting trend. When it comes to scoring over 200 runs against Australia, only three batters have achieved this feat. Interestingly, none of these batters are from India. On the other hand, four batters have managed to score over 200 runs against India, and among them, three are Australians.
In four World Cup matches against Australia, Kohli has scored 192 runs. He is now just eight runs away from becoming the first Indian to surpass that record.
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With only three more runs today, he will have surpassed Tendulkar’s existing World Cup record of 194 runs (six innings), making him India’s top World Cup hitter against the Aussies.
3. David Warner Eyes 7,000 Runs Milestone
David Warner is regarded as a World Cup legend. He has 528 runs in the current World Cup at an average of 52.80, and this is the third World Cup in a row that he has been among the top run scorers. In total, he has 6925 runs in 158 ODI innings.
If he scores 75 more runs today, he would become the second-fastest player in history to reach 7000 runs in the format, as well as the quickest for Australia.
Hashim Amla of South Africa holds the overall record, which he achieved in a record-breaking 150 innings. Ricky Pontig, Australia’s current quickest to 7,000 runs, took 192 innings.
4. Zampa and Shami Can Break the World Cup Wicket Record
Shami from India has been incredibly impressive in the competition with three five-wicket hauls in just six matches. Despite missing several games, he is currently the top wicket-taker, having taken 23 wickets in six matches. Australian leg-spinner Zampa is closely behind with 22 wickets from 10 matches.
Mitchell Starc of Australia currently holds the record for most World Cup wickets in a single tournament, with 27 in 2019. Although it will be challenging, Shami and Zampa might shatter the record with five and six wickets respectively in the final.
5. Shami Targets fastest 200 ODI Wickets
You can’t put another fifer past Shami in his current state. If he takes six wickets in the final, he would have 200 ODI wickets in just 100 innings. This will make him the fastest player to reach the milestone, surpassing Starc, who needed 102 innings to reach the milestone in September 2022.
Even if Shami does not achieve 200 ODI wickets tonight, he will have 33 more innings to do it and become the quickest Indian to do so. Ajit Agarkar now holds the record with 133 innings.