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Australia and India will play the ODI World Cup 2023 final, contesting for the coveted trophy after the former beat South Africa in the semifinal. Unsurprisingly, indifferent to the final outcome is Proteas coach Rob Walter, who stated a minimal chance of watching and a lack of concern about the winner.
“To be honest, there is a 1% chance I would be watching. To be even more brutally honest, I don’t care (who wins). But it is great for the home team to win the World Cup and over the past eight weeks we have seen the kind of support there is for the India team. And they have been the best side in the competition,” said the South Africa coach at the pree conference.
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Meanwhile, skipper Temba Bavuma acknowledged Australia's outstanding performance, describing the match as a dog fight and expressing appreciation for the fight his team showed. Quinton de Kock's ODI career ending in this game was noted, with Bavuma emphasizing the team's enjoyment of playing with him.
" Our character came through. It was a dog fight,” skipper Temba Bavuma told official broadcasters after congratulating Australia and accepting that they were “outstanding for a large part of the game and thoroughly deserved victory.” Bavuma said Quinton de Kock, whose ODI career ended with this game, would have wanted the game to have ended on a different note “but he'll remember the fight we showed as a team. We've enjoyed playing with him, in South Africa he will go down as a legend of the game."
Bavuma accepted that South Africa lost the game in the first 10 overs, both with the bat and the ball, attributing it to ruthless Australian bowling and acknowledging that South Africa should have bowled better at the start. "Their bowlers were ruthless exploiting every bit of the assistance they got from favourable conditions. And I think we should have bowled better at the start,” he concluded.
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