Australia or South Africa - Who would India want in the Final of World Cup 2023?

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A fantastic victory over New Zealand has taken the Indian cricket team into the final of World Cup 2023. The men in blue will be playing in the championship clash on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

But who is going to join the Indian team in the Final? Australia and South Africa are taking in the other semi-final today at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. As the two cricketing giants lock horns, which opponent would the Indian team want in the Final?

Given the performance of the Indian team so far, they won't mind any opponent in the Grand Final. The Indian team has bulldozed past all of their opponents in this tournament and have won all of their 10 matches so far.

As they are on the cusp of creating history and lifting the World Cup after 12 years on home soil again, there are assessments that the team management will be chalking out when they look for their potential opponents in the final.

Hence in terms of the H2H record and a bit of statistical analysis we would try and figure out India's perfect opponents for the Final.

Australia

What happens if Australia joins India as another finalist for the World Cup 2023? The Australian team have had the hold against India for a long time. But the tides have turned in recent years as India has dominated the Aussies everywhere, in their own backyard and in India especially.

India and Australia have so far played out 150 ODIs, with India winning 57 of them and Australia winning 83. Hence the Men in Blue only have a win percentage of 38 against Pat Cummins and his team.

But when it comes to World Cups, things have changed since 2011 World Cup. India have faced the Aussies four times since 2011 at the grandest stage and have won three of those matches. Earlier in the tournament, India started their campaign against the Aussies and won comfortably in Chennai.

South Africa

Against South Africa, India's overall ODI H2H record is equally poor. The Indian team have only registered 38 victories out of 91 matches and have lost 50 of them.

But Rohit Sharma and his team have an excellent outing over the Proteas in recent World Cup matches. They have won against South Africa in the last three World Cup meets, which includes the mauling victory this year in Kolkata.

Australia or South Africa - Who would India want?

Both Australia and South Africa have been a force in this World Cup. The Aussies have won seven matches in a row and if they win the semis, they would win their 8th consecutive match. South Africa also has shown their destructive batting and clinical bowling prowess throughout the tournament.

But still, Australia are a bigger threat given their pedigree and previous record. The five-time World Champions are a strong unit that can pull off victories out of nowhere.

Rohit Sharma and his team will be equally confident against any of the duo, but they would probably want to face Australia, as settling the score for the 2003 World Cup Final is also an added impetus.