The erring Ball, amazing to be told!Slip’d thro’ his out-stretch’d Hand, and mock’d his Hold.”

British daily The Guardian recently published a lovely treatise on the eternal agony of the dropped catch, and the subsequent anguish of the fingers it slipped through. British poet-playwright James Love’s elegiac verse from 1744, describing an unfortunate drop by Thomas Waymark, one of the prominent cricketers back then, attained posterity. While Love’s poem went on to become the earliest known rhapsody on the game, Waymark’s dropped catch is still spoken of nearly three centuries later.

In a different world, Australian captain Pat Cummins could suffer from similar self-injected contrition if he were to end up with a runners-up medal after the World Cup final later tonight. With India reeling at 3-2 just over a month ago in their lung-opener in Chennai, the Aussies had their tails up. Only for Cummins to drop Virat Kohli who went on to score 85. Had he held on, it could have been a different game, and a different tournament for the 5-time World Cup winners. Thankfully, no such love for poetry in the Australian cricket media. Till now.

Losing their first two games, notching up the bottom rankers spot on the points table, Cummins’ men were under the pump, only for a great turnaround that has seen them scripting 8 wins on the trot, to reach the final. 8 World Cup final appearances, having won five of the previous seven, Cummins’ team knows the worth and weight of legacy. But even those back home know this is a different Australian side, that is more grit and gumption than the heavyweight battering rams circa 1999-2007.

Primed as favourites whenever they have made the summit showdown, Australia now find themselves at a new awakening as they run in to Rohit Sharma’s invincibles, who have held centerstage, dominating this World Cup like no other before.

None has proved equal to the task as the Men in Blue have put in a devastating display, with bat and ball, complemented by brilliant fielding. Four of the top five batters have notched up hundreds; Rohit leads from the front with his supersonic Powerplay batting, Gill averages 50-plus even without a ton, Kohli leads the run charts eclipsing nearly all records that were there, and Iyer and Rahul round it off with a mixture of outrageous stroke-making.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the 5-bowler attack has soared to newer heights of excellence, hastening lengthy tribute pieces on why it should be called the greatest ODI bowling unit of all time. If Bumrah and Siraj won’t get you, Shami will for sure. 23 scalps playing fewer games than most, his selection has sharpened the pace attack even more.

Two left-arm spinners working in tandem in the middle overs, in Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja India have the most well-rounded attack this tournament, and a few more previously, has seen. Most wickets, best economy rate, this is a bowling attack for the ages. Pace, seam movement, swing and two different versions of left-arm spin, this is an unbeatable combination.

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Faced with an opposition that will have a humongous audience behind them, it will take more than just wordplay to silence the crowd. David Warner, Travis Head and Mitch Marsh have been in good nick, and Cummins would want telling contributions from each.

Just that Shami has been exceptional, going around-the-wicket, wide of the crease to left-handers, and is likely to be unleashed early on, if there is no movement on offer. Warner’s issues with this angle have been well documented by Stuart Broad in the past, while the mercurial Head is still to iron out his weakness outside off.

Conversely, they could look to go after Siraj, who by his own standards hasn’t had a great tournament so far. If the top-order is able to pick up the pace in the first Powerplay, they could force a shift in India’s bowling plans, with Bumrah and Shami having to bowl more overs up front.

So, take out Siraj, but how do you contend with Bumrah? 18 wickets and a miserly economy of 3.13 in powerplays, how does one score off him? Though Warner has never been dismissed by Bumrah in ODIs, the pace ace will be looking to let it rip and add to his tally of 18 wickets in this tournament so far

Barring the openers, the next five Aussie batters are right-handers, which makes it imperative for at least one of them to come out unscathed from the first 10 overs, and then try and take on the spin twins. Even then. Warner, one of the best players of spin, has always had trouble reading Kuldeep. As for right-handers, well Jadeja loves bowling to them, doesn’t he?

Like quite a few of his mates, Steve Smith knows this is his World Cup swansong although he hasn’t set the stage on fire yet. One among the core who helped win both the 50-over and 20-over World Cups in 2015 and 2021, Smith will look to go out on a high, and this could be his best opportunity to turn around his low-key championship run one final time.

Cometh the hour, cometh ‘The Big Show’. Maxwell’s magnum opus against Afghanistan has surely gone down as one of the greatest ODI knocks ever, if not the best. Here, Kuldeep will come for him, having had the measure of him, even as Maxwell’s troubles fronting up to left-arm wrist-spin have been widely journaled.

No such qualms for Team India though. The bludgeoning scimitar of Rohit Sharma intends to give the propulsion that has been one of their strongest suits while batting. Setting aside personal goals, the skipper leads from the front in every sense. And the superfast starts have ensured even lesser pressure on the ones who follow, allowing Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to play themselves in easily.

Australia will be looking for another quick opening burst from their pacers, and in Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc, they have the goods. Hitting the hard lengths, off pace deliveries, Hazelwood is the one that could provide the early breakthrough. Starc, who till his semifinal burst against the Proteas had a relatively quiet tournament will be looking to do the damage yet again. Dial Brendon McCullum and he will tell you about the impact of that 5-ball duck in the 2015 final.

India have no middle overs conundrum while batting though, and have been playing spin exceptionally well in this phase. The Ahmedabad wicket though, with its huge boundaries, has offered something for the spinners in the first half, and if Australia bowl first, Adam Zampa would look to exploit the conditions.

But this will only be if the pace attack can put the lid on India’s flying starts, thus letting the leggie come on and do his thing. No Indian batsman has had two consecutive failures, neither has any team been able to get both Rohit and Virat out cheaply in the same game. And if the aggressive top order decides to hunker down for a bit and then try and go after Zampa and Maxwell, then it could certainly be game over.

Other than the match-ups and the looming possibility of the game being decided in the first Powerplay itself, both teams have another common area of concern, that unites them perhaps to size up the odds. A good sixth bowling option is something that perhaps both lacks, and it might come down to who has the better filler, in case one of their regular bowlers is taken to the cleaners.

Barring a few, 50-over World Cup finals have been overtly tepid one-sided encounters, missing the thrill of close finishes. But 2019 produced a finish for the ages, one that breathed new life in to the format. With both captains Rohit Sharma and Pat Cummins in line to join an illustrious list of predecessors who have held aloft the title for their respective countries, we are in for a nail-biting romp.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus, W.E. Henley

Sanjeeb Mukherjea is a sports television personality. An award-winning anchor-journalist, Mukherjea now doubles up as host and commentator for major sports broadcasting networks in India.