Cricket World Cup final: Live score, team news and over-by-over updates as KL Rahul leads the way for the hosts with superb unbeaten half-century

Sharma – 47 c Head b Maxwell

Iyer – 4 c Inglis b Cummins

Jadeja – 9 c Inglis b Hazelwood

Zampa is back in attack now for Australia. Looks like Cummins is looking to take advantage of the pitch which is starting to look a little more rough around where Rahul is stood in front of the stumps.

The wicket is playing fairly slow too.

It comes as Australia have this morning expressed their concerns over the condition of the pitch, with Pat Cummins voiced his complaints to grounds staff ahead of the match…

Pat Cummins has impressed today and secured a crucial wicket for Australia earlier this morning, forcing Virat Kohli to hit the ball onto his own stumps after the batsman brought up his half-century.

It’s nearly been an hour since India last hit a boundary.

Their last came after KL Rahul scooped the ball over Australian wicketkeeper Inglis – but they’ve struggled for momentum since.

Sky Sports are predicting them to get a score of 281.

Right now, I’d say India would take your hand off for that score with their run rate dropping to 4.85.

For context, Sharma and Gill had set a run rate of around 6.31 earlier in the innings.

Australia have a hold on the game now, with Pat Cummins’ side really slowing things up.

Earlier today, a spectator wearing a pro-Palestine t-shirt invaded the Cricket World Cup final pitch.

The spectator was wearing a shirt that read ‘Free Palestine’.

After running onto the field, the spectator approached Virat Kohli before putting their arm around the Indian batsman.

The TV umpire’s review shows Yadav’s foot was planted behind the crease.

Inglis though does a great job to collect the ball and put pressure on the batsman.

Australia are really baying for another quick wicket now.

This time it’s Yadav! Inglis has stumped him from behind, but let’s see if he was out!

After surviving a review, Australia eventually get their man!

It’s a carbon copy of the previous delivery and you’d have thought Jadeja had learnt his lesson!

He swipes at a ball from Hazelwood coming down towards the off stump, and it looked to have a bit of reverse swing on it!

He edges it ever so slightly and Inglis makes no mistake behind the stumps.

Hazelwood throws one down off side and it looks like Jadeja may have nicked it.

Australia use their second review but snicko confirms the batsman has not edged the ball.

The ball gets thrown in again after some excellent fielding but Australia fumble it!

India take their chance to steal another single at the Aussies’ fielding errors.

It gets a big roar from the crowd who have been very quiet since Kohli’s dismissal.

They’ve been so dialed in with their fielding, but they’ve been very keen to throw the ball in at every opportunity.

Maxwell darts one in, perhaps unneccessarily, to the stumps with Rahul very much in his crease, with the ball flying past the stumps out to the boundary.

Hazelwood looks less than impressed…

A great innings from Rahul who has had a lot of work to do!

He brings up his 50 having faced 86 balls today, nicking a single off Starc, deflecting the ball away to extra cover.

He’s steadied the ship for India after Kohli and Sharma were dismissed earlier in the innings.

While we have a break in play, lets recap on some interesting news coming out of the England camp yesterday.

Matthew Motts’s side are set to ask their IPL stars to leave the tournament early next year.

It comes following their dismal performance at this year’s World Cup, with Rob Key admitting that the side had not prepared well enough for their 50-over title defence.

Following his half-century earlier today, Kohli has become the first Indian batsman to score a half century in both the semi-final and final of a Cricket World Cup.

It was his sixth 50 in 11 innings at the tournament.

Here comes Starc again! He’s 1-33 so far in this match, can he dismiss Rahul here?

The Indian batsman is closing in on his half-century after facing 79 balls.

He’s soaking up a lot of pressure for India here

He’s miles in his crease. That will be Australia’s first review of the match.

Good reactions from Inglis but Rahul’s foot is stretched over the crease.

Australia are reviewing this!

Rahul has stepped forward to drive away a ball from Zampa and Inglis takes the ball before stumping the batsman.

It looked close in real time but I’m not sure it’ll be out. Umpires decision was not out at first, let’s see what the TV umpire says…

It’s eerily quiet inside the Narendra Modi Stadium after Cummins dismisses Kohli.

A shame though for Kohli, he’s batted superbly throughout the tournament.

Wow, just as I was writing about the Australian captain, he’s provided a moment of magic from his side, removing Kohli.

That is a huge wicket for Australia too, they’re very much in control now!

He bowls a bouncer and it is an awkward angle for Kohli, who wacks the ball downwards onto his own stumps!

Kohli walks after hitting 54 runs off 63 balls.

A pivotal moment for Australia. Meanwhile, Jadeja comes in as his replacement.

He’s been the least expensive of Australia’s fast bowlers today going 1-16 after 5.2 overs.

Meanwhile, Kohli and Rahul are starting to build a solid platform for India.

Mail Sport columist Stuart Broad has likened the Indian cricket team to sporting greats around the world.

Should they win the World Cup, Broad believes they’ll be up there with the likes of the Brazilian national football team and Usain Bolt.

‘Personally, I think it would be great for the game if India come out on top against Australia in Ahmedabad because it will inspire the next generation of cricket’s powerhouse, just as their 2011 triumph did,’ Broad said.

‘An Indian victory is the most marketable outcome for the sport — comparable to when Usain Bolt used to line up for the 100 metres. All of athletics’ stakeholders wanted him to win because it leads to bigger sponsorship, bigger TV rights, greater exposure for the sport.’

Rahul finally gets a boundary!

It’s taken 97 balls for this partnership to find a boundary – which is credit to how good Australia’s fielders have been.

He hits a ball from Maxwell out to extra cover to bring up his first four of the match.

He reaches his half century having faced 56 deliveries.

It’s been a stellar campaign for the India batsman, who gets his 50 with a single struck down to long-on.

But Australiia are keeping him locked in here, Zampa spins one towards his off stump, and Kohli hammers a great shot to extra cover, but Australia’s fielders are just too good, preventing him from getting his fifth boundry of the match.

India’s run rate has fallen to 5.27 now. Kohli and Rahul will need to start hitting a few more big shots if they are to bring up a big score.

And Eoin Morgan believes they need to start swinging pretty soon.

‘You want to see this partnership take on a little more risk,’ the former England white ball captain told Sky Sports.

Meanwhile, we’ve reached the 25th over and will have a break in play for drinks.

Kohli has dropped his helmet and donned a cap with Zampa back on the attack.

Earlier this morning, a pitch invader briefly stopped play.

The spectator ran onto the field to greet Virat Kohli and was also seen wearing a ‘Free Palestine’ t-shirt.

The spectator was quickly taken away by security and play resumed subsequently.

He’s just eight runs away from a half-century and looks to have steadied things a bit for India here.

Kohli has been sensational for India so far during the tournament, bringing up his 50th ODI hundred during their Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

Australia have really changed the tide here taking full control of the match.

Eyebrows were raised over Cummins’ decision to bowl first but it is really paying off for the Aussies.

The captain has also enjoyd a fine spell with the ball, dismissing Iyer having conceded 24 runs so far himself.

It was his 13th wicket at the tournament – an excellent return from the pace bowler.

Can India take advantage of the shorter side of the ground?

Marsh steams in to Kohli and gets off to a fine start in the 19th over. He’s 0-1 after three balls and looks to be bowling quite full at the strikers pads.

The spinner is back in the attack again and has bowled three dot balls at the start of the 17th over.

Rahul gets one away to deep cover but Australia’s fielders are really stopping India from scoring here.

While Head will take the headlines for his catch, credit should go to Maxwell for forcing Sharma to slice the ball up into the air with a brilliant piece of bowling.

It was uncertain how much of a part Maxwell would play in this tournament, having come into the event with an injury.

Yet the spinner overcame that injury and has proved to be one of the pivotal players in this Australia side, notably making history with his historic 201 innings against Afghanistan, helping Pat Cummins’ side book their place in the semi-finals of the tournament.

Cummins is back in the attack! They need to get Kohli now but have just come close to dismissing Rahul.

He clips a short ball to mid-on but no one is there to collect the catch.

Despite that, credit must go to Cummins for how he’s set up his field here – they’ve stopped India from finding the boundary on several occasions already.

Looks like Hazelwood might come back into the fold to trouble Kohli again. He’s troubled Kohli in the past notably dismissing him in their previous outing.

Meanwhile, we can’t get over just how good Travis Head’s catch was. The most important catch of his career?

Another wicket and Australia will take control here, but they’re pressing on India now.

Despite that, India have their star man Kohli at the crease right now and he’s steadying the ship for the home side right now.

Their run rate has dropped from 7.05 to 6.81 with Sky Sports predicting a score of 299.

Menawhile, looks likee we have a couple of spectators on the pitch! We’ll have a brief stoppage in play while the pitch invaders are removed, with Kohli currently having a chat with Cummins in the middle.

Their fielding has been really impressive during the first 12 overs.

While Kohli and Sharma have struck some excellent boundaries, Australia have really hit back here.

It’s a similar story to their semi-final victory against South Africa earlier in the week.

Starc and Cummins were the orchestrators of that win, taking three wickets each during the match.

Recap on all the action from their semi-final win here…

Cummins has made another change to the bowling attack and in comes Zampa.

The Aussies are not letting up here, they smell blood and are really trying to make a dent into the Indian batting line up.

Zampa has got off to a solid start too, five singles in his first over, keeping India to 87-3.

With 22 wickets so far during the tournament, Zampa currently sits second on the leaderboard for the most wickets taken at the tournament.

More on Head’s sensational catch below.

Here’s the moment that could change things for Australia.

Simply sensational stuff from Head considering the circumstances.

He’s broken up a big partnership with Kohli and Sharma starting to click into gear.

The Indian captain had struck four fours and three sixes, racking up a partnership of 46 with Kohli.

Australia were looking like they needed a moment of magic to break their partnership and boy did Head come up with the goods then!

Wow Australia are on fire – three wickets in 11 overes!

It’s Cummins this time who gets it.

Iyer comes in to replace Sharma but he edges a ball out to Inglis behind the stumps who takes the catch!

Australia really coming back into this!

Travis Head take a bow! That was sensational!

It seems Pat Cummins’ decision to bring Glenn Maxwell in to the attack has paid off! Sharma plays a ball up into the air, with Head having to track back behind himself to get under the ball.

He has to track back quite some way to get to the ball and dives to reach the poor slice from the Indian captain.

It is a tremendous catch under pressure, diving at full stretch to reach the ball!

What a moment that’ll be for Australia!

A decent over so far from the Australian captain.

He’s conceded three runs keeping Kohli pinned back on his wicket.

Looks like he might be heading to the changing rooms for some treatment here!

That’ll be a big blow for Cummins, with Hazelwood being one of Australia’s top bowlers so far in the tournament with 14 wickets.

Australia looked like they needed to switch things up.

And it’s a good start for Maxwell. He conceeds seven runs from the over, keeping Sharma, who notably sits third in the leading runs scorers rankings at the tournament, largely at bay.

Starc has been hammered in this over.

Kohli has hit three fours in a row to bring up a score of 54 for India.

Sharma’s and Kohli are in full flow at the crease at the moment which will be a big worry for Australia.

Meanwhile, Australia have decided to take the pace out of the game, with Glenn Maxwell coming into the bowling attack.

India’s record breaking batsman, Virat Kohli, has been phenomenal during the tournament so far.

He currently leads the way as the tournament’s top run scorer, notably breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s world record to hit his 50th ODI 100.

Kohli, meanwhile, has just stepped to the crease, and has struck two wonderful fours, opening the face of his bat to push the ball out to deep cover.

Sharma – 32 runs off 21 balls, S/R 152.38

Kohli – 15 runs off 12 balls, S/R 125.00

That’s a big moment for Australia! A hush descends on the Narendra Modi Stadium, with Starc removing Gill.

It’s a great ball in from the Australian pace bowler, with Gill sending his shot up in the air towards Adam Zampa at mid-on.

It’s a massive wicket for Australia who were starting to get battered by Sharma.

But they face a tough challenge now with Virat Kohli now walking to the crease…

Fabulous end to the over from Sharma!

He’s swiped a massive six down to square leg, before hammering a four right back at Hazelwood.

He’s really leading by example this morning.

Speaking on the conditions, Cummins has stated that he believes today’s pitch will improve as the day goes on.

‘We are going to have a bowl first. It looks like a dry wicket. Dew is certainly a factor. What we know of this pitch is that it just gets better to bat on.

‘We had a tough start to the tournament, but we haven’t really put a foot wrong ever since. It’s all set up perfectly. We’ve played this team a lot. We are playing the same team as we used in the semi-final.’

A shorter ball comes in from Hazelwood and sharma doesn’t quite connect with it properly.

He takes a big swing and it falls short of the boundary at square leg.

Travis Head is in the region and comes in to stop the boundary but can’t quite take the catch, with the ball falling just before him.

Starc is back on strike and he forces a huge edge from Shubman Gill.

It falls just in front of the slips and Starc is in disbelief that hasn’t been taken.

Australia could have had two wickets so far, will they come to rue their missed opportunities?

Hazelwood can’t believe it! A big swing and a miss from Sharma sees the India captain nearly walking from the crease.

The ball just glides over the stumps and that could have been close!

That’s two boundaries in two balls – excellent stuff from the India captain.

He’s lead by example so far in the tournament and has smashed Hazelwood for consecutive fours.

His first was a beautifully taken drive to deep extra cover, before clipping his second out to deep square leg.

Starc will wrap up his over for three and Josh Hazelwood will take the ball from him.

His first ball is not a good one though. It comes short down towards the off stump and Shama clips it towards the boundary.

Steve Smith is there to just about stop the boundary, but he seems to have injured his wrist in the process.

That will be a big worry for Australia.

He’s been brilliant so far in the tournament and he’s played a brilliant shot hitting Starc to deep back point.

It doesn’t quite make the boundary, but India get off the mark with two runs.

Starc steams in to Sharma, who bats it down the leg side.

The Australian puts up a big appeal, but Cummins waves it away!

Looks like it’ll be Mitchell Starc getting us underway with the ball!

News just in and Pat Cummins has reportedly raised concerns about the state of the pitch ahead of the Cricket World Cup final.

The state of the pitch has beeen a big talking point at the World Cup in recent days with Cummins having made a compliant to grounds staff following an inspection.

Among the Australian camp, concerns have been raised that the pitch is ‘rock hard’ in the middle but rough at both ends.

Ollie Lewis has the full story below…

In their five previous meetings, India have beaten Australia three times, while Australia have won two of those matches.

Their most recent meeting came earlier in October at the tournament, with India besting the Aussies by six wickets.

What a tournament it’s been but today’s match is set to be a real cricket showcase.

The atmosphere is building inside the Narendra Modi Stadium and we’ve just had a fly by from the The Suryakiran Acrobatic Team.

We’re just ten minutes away from the first ball of the match and Rohit Sharma has said he’s liking the look of today’s pitch.

He told Sky Sports: ‘I would have batted first. It looks like a good pitch, it is a big game, so we need to put runs on the board. It’s going to be amazing, everytime we play here, the crowd come out in large numbers.

‘This is the biggest occasion in cricketing events. We have to stay nice and calm. It’s a dream come true to be captaining the team in the final. I know what lies in front of us. We need to play well and get the winning result.

‘You got to make the right decisions on the field. That’s something we’ve done consistently in the last 10 games. We are playing the same team as our previous game.’

India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Cummins has opted for an unchanged eleven following on from Australia’s semi-final win against South Africa.

Australia XI: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(w), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Pat Cummins has decided that his team will bowl first!

They’ll look to make a fast start against India’s top order at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Cricket World Cup Final between India and Australia!

It’s set to be a huge day of action at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with India looking to claim their third Cricket World Cup title, as Pat Cummins’ side look to claim their sixth title.

Stay with us as we’ll have all the commentary live updates and news coming from the match as Australia have won the toss and elected to bowl first!