"Guess we will silence them": Wolvaardt echoes Cummins' words before Women's World Cup final against India

Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 1 (ANI): South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt is keen on recreating the scenes from the 2023 Men's ODI World Cup final. She echoed Australia captain Pat Cummins' famous words, "nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent" before facing India in the Women's World Cup final at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

Almost two years ago, Cummins addressed a press conference in Ahmedabad before facing India on November 19. Cummins made his intention clear about silencing the massive home crowd by engineering a victory against the unbeaten Indian side. He stayed true to his words as Australia trounced India with a six-wicket win at the Narendra Modi Stadium to lift the title.

With the colour blue expected to fill Navi Mumbai's stands, Wolvaardt wants to reduce the Indian fans to silence and told reporters in the pre-match press conference, "Hopefully we win. I guess that will silence them. Yeah."

The final is expected to be a run-fest, especially after the second semi-final between India and Australia. Both teams combined to hammer a total of 679 runs, with India eventually chasing the 339-run target, the highest in the tournament's history. Wolvaardt expects a high-scoring affair on a batting-friendly surface and expects staying calm to be the most critical factor in deciding the fate of the final.

"Yeah, I enjoy it as a batter, but not so much as a captain. The super flat wickets. But like you said, obviously it's going to be a really big crowd, probably the biggest crowd that a lot of our goals have played in front of. A lot of eyeballs on the game, a lot of added pressure and probably pretty batting friendly," Wolvaardt said.

"So it might be pretty high scoring, which is why I think if we're just able to stay really calm, it'll be really important. It may feel like there's a lot happening tomorrow, with boundaries and the crowd and the noise, but I think we just need to stay as grounded as possible and as focused as we can on the moment and what we need to do," Wolvaardt added.

South Africa kicked off their campaign with a shambolic outing, bundling out on 69 in 20.4 overs and surrendering to a 10-wicket defeat against England. From that moment, South Africa never looked back and stormed into their maiden World Cup final.

South Africa faced England once again in the semi-final, and Wolvaardt led from the front and engineered a record-breaking 169(143). With the ball, Marizanne Kapp used the seam to wreak havoc and scalped figures of 5/20 to steer South Africa to a thumping 125-run victory. (ANI)

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