Introduction

Known as a gentleman’s game, cricket can bring people from different countries together and stoke a passion shared by millions of followers worldwide. Cricket fans everywhere are looking forward to the championship match between two of the biggest teams in the game, Australia and India, as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 draws to a close. The cricketing world is a flurry of excitement, the players are prepared and the stage is set. We will examine the probable results, star player pairings, and historical background that will make the India vs. Australia final a matchup to remember in this blog post.

The Road to the Final

Before we dive into the specifics of the final, let’s rewind and recap the journey that brought both India and Australia to this pivotal moment. The World Cup is a gruelling tournament that tests the mettle of the best cricketing nations. Each team faced formidable opponents, unpredictable weather conditions, and the pressure of performing on the grandest stage of them all.

India, led by the charismatic Virat Kohli, showcased their dominance throughout the tournament. The batting prowess of Rohit Sharma, the spin wizardry of Ravichandran Ashwin, and the fast-paced brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah propelled India to the final with a series of impressive victories. The team’s combination of seasoned veterans and emerging talents has proven to be a winning formula.

On the other hand, Australia, under the captaincy of the indomitable Aaron Finch, displayed their trademark resilience and tenacity. The explosive batting of David Warner, the all-round brilliance of Glenn Maxwell, and the pace bowling arsenal led by Mitchell Starc paved the way for Australia’s success. The team overcame challenges and adversity, showcasing their ability to perform under pressure.

Key Player Matchups

As the cricketing world gears up for the final showdown, several key player matchups will play a crucial role in determining the outcome of the match.

1. Rohit Sharma vs. Mitchell Starc: The Battle of the Titans
   • Sharma, India’s vice-captain and a batting maestro has been in sublime form throughout the tournament. His ability to anchor the innings and accelerate when needed makes him a formidable opponent. However, the menacing pace of Mitchell Starc, Australia’s premier fast bowler is standing in his way. The battle between Sharma’s elegant strokes and Starc’s lethal pace will be a sight.
2. Virat Kohli vs. Pat Cummins: Clash of the Captains
   • The captains of both teams will play a pivotal role in guiding their sides to glory. Kohli, known for his aggression and consistency, will face off against Pat Cummins, Australia’s captain and a world-class fast bowler. The tactical acumen of these two leaders will be on full display as they strategize to outsmart each other on the field.
3. Kuldeep Yadav vs. Glenn Maxwell: Spin vs. Power
   • In the middle overs, the battle between spin and power-hitting becomes crucial. Kuldeep’s crafty spin variations will be up against Maxwell’s ability to clear boundaries easily. The outcome of this matchup could sway the momentum in favour of the team that comes out on top.

Historical Context

The history between India and Australia in ICC tournaments adds an extra layer of intensity to this final. Both teams have a storied rivalry, filled with memorable encounters that have left an indelible mark on the cricketing landscape.

In the ICC Cricket World Cup, India and Australia faced each other in several high-stakes matches, including the unforgettable 2003 final where Australia emerged victorious. However, India had their revenge in the 2011 quarterfinals, and the pendulum has swung back and forth ever since. The 2023 final, therefore, is not just a battle for the trophy but also an opportunity for one team to assert its dominance over the other in the grandest of stages.

The Impact of Conditions

As with any cricket match, the playing conditions will play a crucial role in determining the strategies adopted by both teams. The pitch conditions, weather forecast, and the dew factor can all influence the game’s outcome.

If the pitch favours fast bowlers, Australia’s potent pace attack might have an edge. On the other hand, if the conditions favour spin, India’s diverse spin bowling options, including Ashwin and the wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, could prove decisive. The toss, therefore, becomes a crucial moment, and the team winning it may have a significant advantage.

The Mental Battle

Cricket is not just a physical game; it’s a mental battle as well. The pressure of a World Cup final can be overwhelming, and the team that handles the mental aspect better is likely to emerge victorious. The captains, Kohli and Cummins, will need to keep their players focused, calm, and motivated under the intense spotlight of the final.

The experience of players in high-pressure situations, such as World Cup finals and IPL playoffs, can be invaluable. The likes of Sharma, Kohli, Warner, and Finch bring a wealth of experience to their respective teams, and their ability to guide the younger talents through the mental rigours of the final could be a determining factor.

The X-Factors

In a match of such magnitude, unexpected heroes often emerge as X-factors. It could be a young talent playing in his first World Cup final, a seasoned campaigner making a comeback, or a player delivering a standout performance against the odds.

For India, the X-factor could be a young sensation like Shubman Gill, who has shown glimpses of his immense talent throughout the tournament. Australia, on the other hand, might look to someone like Ashton Agar, an all-rounder capable of making significant contributions with both bat and ball.

Conclusion

As the cricketing world awaits the epic clash between India and Australia in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final, the anticipation and excitement reach a fever pitch. The battle between bat and ball, the tactical duels between captains, and the unpredictable twists and turns of a cricket match will all be on display.

Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain – cricket fans are in for a treat. The India vs. Australia final promises to be a spectacle of skill, determination, and sportsmanship, showcasing the beauty of the game we all love. So, sit back, grab your popcorn, and get ready for a cricketing extravaganza that will be etched in the annals of cricket history. May the best team emerge victorious and lift the coveted ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 trophy!

The Committee against Torture opened its seventy-eighth session in Geneva on October 30 and will continue until November 24, 2023. The body of 10 independent experts is headed by Dr. Claude Heller of Mexico. The Committee will examine the implementation of the ‘Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ by its States parties.

It is worth mentioning here that the Convention against ‘Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’ was adopted on December 10, 1984. It entered into force on June 26, 1987. Article 1, of the Convention, reads, “For the purposes of this Convention, the term “torture” means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

Dr Alice Jill Edwards (Australia), United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture told the United Nations Third Committee, “There is a persistent accountability gap for torture and ill-treatment worldwide, caused in part by the systemic denial, deliberate obstruction and purposeful evasion of responsibility by public authorities.” She added, “when a State fails to defend truth and justice, it becomes an accomplice in torture. Some States wrongly perceive criminal investigations into torture as a direct attack on their legitimacy. On the contrary, what threatens governmental legitimacy is impunity.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) talks about torture in these words, “The prohibition against torture is a bedrock principle of international law. Torture, as well as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, is banned at all times, in all places, including in times of war. No national emergency, however dire, ever justifies its use.”

So, Torture is a universal sin and a crime against humanity. Torture with impunity, nonetheless, is widespread in the disputed territory of Kashmir. The abuses are so extensive as to extend beyond those directly affected, reaching every man, woman, and child in the Valley of Kashmir. The civilians live under the constant threat of abuse. The overwhelming presence of 900,000 Indian military and paramilitary forces serves as a constant reminder to Kashmiris that they are not free people, but a people subjugated and enslaved against their will.

India has authorized a police state reminiscent of the Gestapo in Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, The Disturbed Areas Act, The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act are illustrative. Generally speaking, these laws empower the Indian military and paramilitary forces in Kashmir to arrest, detain, torture, search, wiretap, tr, and punish without material restraints.”

Tens of thousands of Indian officials are guilty of war crimes in Kashmir. These crimes include willful killing, torture, rape, wanton destruction of civilian properties and maiming of innocent civilians. These brutalities are commonplace in Kashmir and have been verified by numerous impartial human rights NGOs.

Ms. Arundhati Roy, an internationally acclaimed novelist of India wrote, “The documentation of instances of torture, disappearances, custodial deaths, rape and gang-rape (by security forces in Kashmir) is enough to make your blood run cold. The fact that despite all this India retains its reputation as a legitimate democracy in the international community and amongst its own middle class is a triumph.”

Dr. Juan E. Mendez, Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Professor of Human rights Law in Residence at American University, Washington, Dc wrote about the ‘Torture Report on Kashmir’, “Hopefully, a serious debate among the Indian public about this report will prompt the national authorities to take the matter of torture seriously and establish effective control and to act as a more responsible global citizen and cooperate with the human rights machinery at the United Nations.”

Aljazeera reported that “Human Rights bodies say India uses torture as ‘instrument of control’ to quash rebellion in Indian-administered Kashmir.”

Amnesty International reported, “The Indian government must take urgent steps for the protection of the people of Kashmir…Indian government’s historical failure to protect the people of Kashmir will keep feeding into this never-ending cycle of abuses and impunity.”

The United States, Department of States, 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in India says, “According to human rights NGOs, police used torture, other mistreatment, and arbitrary detention to obtain forced or false confessions.”

It is gravely sinful for any nation to remain silent or passive over frightful human rights violations anywhere in the world, including Kashmir.

Edmund Burke wrote that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing. Bishop Desmond Tutu lectured that “Apathy in the face of systematic human rights violations is immoral. One neither supports justice and freedom or one supports injustice and bondage.”

Let me also tell you that even in today’s violent world, the behaviour of the Indian occupation regime in Kashmir is singular in so far as it has enjoyed total impunity from the restraint imposed through international action or persuasions.  No word of disapproval, much less condemnation, has been uttered by the international community. There has not been a call on India to cease and desist from the murderous course it has chosen for itself in Kashmir. Such passivity, such unfeeling and indifference, let no one blame the Kashmiris for concluding, amounts to encouragement of tyranny.

Does anyone seriously believe that if the ICC statue were ratified by India, a single Indian soldier or civilian official would ever be prosecuted before the ICC? Of course, NOT. India has sneered at international law for decades, and the international community has yawned, whether the violations were in Kashmir or with minorities within India. Although not contrary to international law, India showed itself utterly contemptuous of international moral sentiments. It stands proudly outside the mainstream of international conventions.

And the Biden Administration would do nothing to call India to account. The United Nations Security Council has sat on its hands for over 76 years over Kashmir. President Biden stood mute when he met Prime Minister Modi at the White House on June 22, 2023, and then at G20 meeting on September 9, 2023, in New Delhi, India.

He never paid any attention to the warning of Dr. Gregory Stanton, Chairman, Genocide watch who said that Kashmir was at the brink of genocide and New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists that the news media in Kashmir was at the brink of extinction. I still believe that President Biden will tell Prime Minister Modi to lead with the power of example and NOT the example of power to resolve the Kashmir conflict for the sake of international peace and security.

Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai is the Chairman World Forum for Peace and Justice

Washington, October 29, 2023

Bright-lit and flashing, “From Kashmir to Palestine: Occupation is the crime” “India: Stop Land Grabbing in Kashmir” “India: Stop Killing of Political Prisoners in Kashmir” “Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolution only Solution,” Digital Trucks drove down the central locations in Washington, DC, including The Capitol Hill, The White House, The Department of State, The Washington Monument, most of the embassies, including the Embassy of India, various museums, etc. This digital truck advertising proved the most effective way to get our message out to our audience, which includes diplomats of foreign embassies, all spectators, observers and common Americans.

Rented by Washington-based, ‘World Kashmir Awareness Forum,’ (WKAF), the other messages beamed on the electronic screens were: “Stop: India’s Demographic Change in Kashmir,” “Indian Army Out of Kashmir,” “Hold India Accountable for War Crimes in Kashmir,” “End Indian Colonization of Kashmir,” “Kashmir for Kashmiris”; “

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Mir, President, of WKAF and Chairman, of Kashmir Diaspora Coalition said that Kashmiri people all over the world observe October 27 as Black Day. On that day, India invaded the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, under the pretext of a fake Instrument of Accession with Maharaja Hari Singh who was in the process of being overthrown by the rebellious Azad Kashmiri freedom fighters. Kashmir being a majority Muslim country, ruled by a much-hated minority tyrannical king, had also launched a Quit Kashmir movement in 1931 in Kashmir valley. They wanted him gone, but they hated India for its pogroms against Muslims of India during the post-independence bloodshed.

Dr Mir added that India, however, had expansionist designs against all minorities and neighbouring states, including the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pandit Nehru and his confidant Vallabhbhai Patel plotted to invade and occupy Kashmir no matter what the human cost to the region then or thereafter. Around the same time, the Poonch massacre and the deadly Jammu Genocide of 1947 happened. Historians have documented a quarter million Muslims were murdered in the pogroms and over half a million fled for life into neighbouring Pakistan, never to be allowed to return home for all these 76 years. This catastrophe parallels the unfortunate Nakba of Palestine in 1948. Both tragedies have the potential of local, regional and global instability, including a third world war and worse still a nuclear catastrophe.  

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, of the World Forum for Peace & Justice said, “I fail to understand who prevents the world leaders, including President Biden from using their moral authority to persuade the violators of the international laws to abide by the democratic values and universal principles. Perhaps international arms sales and the general military-industrial complex that seems to have a firm grip on foreign policy priorities might offer a clue. Observing the democratic process and civility in international affairs seems too great a request for people who lack both the will to act responsibly and the maturity to understand the proper role of civil servants of society. “

Dr. Fai added that peace in the region of South Asia would benefit not only those who are directly impacted by this conflict – Kashmiris – but India as well. Sounder minds must prevail.  More rational methods of dealing with differences must be sought. Seventy-six years should demonstrate a need for a policy change, a policy that acknowledges the need for coming together in a process that accepts the right of all people to determine their destiny.

Dr Imtiaz Khan, Professor at George Washington University Medical Center stated that atrocities committed by Indian occupation forces in Kashmir are similar to Palestine. Killing of innocent civilians, ethnic cleansing and land grab operation is proceeding at a rapid pace. There is a planned design to wean away school children from Islam as Hindu religious mantras are being narrated in educational institutions. World community especially the UN and OIC should take serious notice of these nefarious activities by the Indian government and dissuade them from these human rights violations.

Dr Khan added that the credibility of the UN is at stake as India is disregarding the resolutions and thumping the nose of the world community by exhibiting hubris and openly negating the commitments made to the people of Kashmir. In an appeal to the international community, he said that time for issuing empty statements has passed as India has refused to budge from her immoral stand. It is high time India is made to understand the consequences of reneging on her promise in terms of sanctions and censure by the world community. Anything short of this will result in the snowballing of this protracted problem to major conflagration that will be disastrous for the region or even have global repercussions.

Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir said that October 27^th is observed all over the world as the day of occupation. It is also observed as a day of grief and a day of sorrow, because it was on October 27,1947, that India sent its army to occupy our land.

Sardar Zarif Khan added that the Indian-occupied Kashmir has been converted into a concentration camp. Any voice of dissent is met by long-term imprisonment or even death. Otherwise, what is the crime of Khurram Parvez, except that he documented atrocities committed by the Indian army? And what is the crime of Yasin Malik, except that he does not want to compromise on Aazadi?

Sardar Zulfiqar Roshan Khan said that the people of Kashmir demand what India and Pakistan have promised to them at the United Nations. The promise was that the future status of Jammu & Kashmir shall be decided by the people through a referendum which will be conducted by the United Nations. That promise was never fulfilled.

Sardar Zubair Khan said that the people of Kashmir, like most people, are by their nature peaceful. History testifies to that fact. They do not seek war and do not want to see their children die in a bloody conflict. They seek and would welcome a peaceful and negotiated settlement to the crisis for the sake of peace and stability in the region of South Asia.

Raja Liaqat Kiyani, President, of Kashmir House, that the presence of nine hundred thousand Indian occupation forces has made Kashmir the largest army concentration in the world. The purpose of so many Indian soldiers is to suppress the civilian population of Kashmir into submission. But the people of Kashmir will continue their struggle till the date when Kashmir will be liberated from the occupation of the government of India.

Sardar Aftab Roshan Khan delivered a passionate message by saying that we want the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir to know that the people of Azad Kashmir are with them. They will do whatever they can to help them on the diplomatic and political front to be the voice of the voiceless people of Kashmir.

Shoaib Irshad emphasized that the rational approach to set the stage for a settlement of the Kashmir dispute is to include the accredited leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir in all future negotiations with India and Pakistan. Any Kashmir solution that fails to command the consensus of the 23 million people of the State of Jammu & Kashmir is doomed to shipwreck moments after its launch.

Shafiq Shah said, “it is a fact that today the nation of Kashmir is facing an existential threat. More than 3.7 million Indians have been given Domicile certificates. You do not need to be an Einstein to know why India is doing it. India is doing it to change the demography of Kashmir and to change the Muslim majority character of Kashmir into a minority.”

Khalid Faheem said that we pray for the safety and security of our brethren both in Palestine and Kashmir. Both Palestine and Kashmir are the oldest issues pending on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council.

Tahseen Hussain deplored the silence of the world powers. He said the inaction of the world powers is the cause of the pain and suffering of the people of Kashmir and Palestine.

Dr. Fai can be reached at WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435.  [email protected]