India vs Australia ICC World Cup 2023 Final Today: 4 money lessons from the biggest festival of cricket

If you are a fan, you see magnificent cricket from the giants as well as the minnows. You will patiently wait for 90 minutes to book your ticket to your hometown venue to see that dreaded sign: All tickets sold out. You will swallow your pride and watch the matches at home with friends and family, wearing your favourite, lucky team T-shirt (unwashed since the day the World Cup started), demolishing everything your favourite home food delivery app promises. However, you’d be gobsmacked at all the behind the scenes organisation, people management and security at every venue.

Before India and Australia meet at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad for the match to beat all matches – the World Cup 2023 final – on Sunday, November 19, think about the lessons this World Cup has taught you about investing.

How to create a winning team: Bring together batters, fielders and bowlers with the help of the support team

It’s a matter of pride to be selected for the Indian team. You have star batters like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and record breakers like Virat Kohli and incredible bowling geniuses like Mohammed Shami, Jaspreet Bumrah, Ravinder Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav. But there’s the keeper of the team K L Rahul, and the young centurion Shreyas Iyer.

That’s how well you know your investments, right? If you have blue chip stocks, you can rest easy, but most of us are stepping lightly on the field, gauging the state of the field (is there dew? Is this a slow wicket that will help the spinners or is there bounce?), aren't we? So the more you learn about the stocks you’re investing in, the better you can handle the ups and downs of the game.

And there’s the support team. Of course everyone is familiar with ‘The Wall’, head coach Rahul Dravid. But in this World Cup you have just seen Virat Kohli indicate to the fielding coach that K L Rahul’s catch deserved the medal. This fielding coach is T Dilip. The bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, the batting coach Vikram Rathore have helped make this team an unstoppable force. So you too need to have a mix of stocks in your portfolio that are different, and have your money manager advise you like Dravid does for the team, so you come out winning.

Setting a target score: The batting duos set up the goal

If you’re playing at Eden Gardens, you know that the outfield is fast. If you’re playing in Dharamshala, there will be dew on the field for the second innings. No matter what field you step down on to bat first, the whole team looks at your batters to perform. That doesn’t mean the rival team doesn’t know your game. Just as a fan knows five of Virat’s favourite shots ('the cover drive', ‘the late cut’, ‘the pull shot’, ‘the rare sweep’ and the heart-stopping ‘inside-out shot’), the rival teams will be setting up fielders to ensure Virat’s batting can be curtailed.

Also Read: India vs Australia ICC World Cup final prediction: Who’ll win IND vs AUS match? Fantasy team, pitch report and more

As the batters go out there sneaking runs between the wicket, getting their four and sixes unafraid of the pace bowlers like the Southpaw Mitchell Starc, attacking them first and the spinners like Adam Zampa who follow when the seam is bashed. Young Adam Zampa has been relentless in the last few games (he takes inspiration from the great Shane Warne), because he has the uncanny ability to adjust bowling by figuring out what shot the batter wants to play, and will be looking to beat India at the game.

When you invest, know your rivals too. If you have invested in one mutual fund, it makes sense to monitor how the other funds are performing.

Six bowlers are good, but we have five bowlers who are stars!

Imagine winning games even though we don’t have Ravichandran Ashwin playing, our all-rounder batter and medium pace bowler Hardik Pandya who is down with injury (that Pune match against Bangladesh where he twisted his ankle trying to field the ball in his follow through), and not having Prasidh Krishna. But we had an ace up our sleeves: Mohammed Shami.

Everyone knows the three people who supported Shami when things got bad for him. But if you were part of the hate and then watched the semi-finals match against New Zealand and watched Shami take those seven wickets, you must be eating crow now. As the commentator said: Shami laao, wicket paao!

Sometimes stocks don’t perform as you wanted them to. It is easy to curse out your money manager. But stick with your choice, and you will be grateful when the market goes up and your bank account is overflowing!

Dropped catches lose matches! That’s why we need T Dilip in our team

If you watched the semi-final match between Australia and South Africa, you must have watched those awful dropped catches and groaned. How Jonty Rhodes must have cringed at the dropped catches…

India has had some brilliant fielders of the ball, starting with Eknath Solkar who still ranks among the best in the world. T Dilip has been putting the team through the rigours of practice, practice and practice. Never before have you seen our fielders lunge, dive and run (without taking their eyes off the ball) like we see them doing now. No fielder has been sent off to the boundary because he needs to rest. They’re all on high alert through the game.

You too should be aware constantly about the whole investment game. Never lose sight of your goals just like the captain of the fielding team. Just like the fielder in the slips you need to be alert to the chance nick - a sudden change in the market, you need to have the best hand-eye coordination in order to spring into action and catch that ball. Great fielding wins matches (just like when you spot a new opportunity to invest and swoop up to scoop the stock).

As you read this, the eyes of the world are on Ahmedabad. Will we unseat the champions and rule this gentleman's game? The pitch is supposed to be helpful for the batters as well as the seamers. Just like our investing life. We just pray to the gods of cricket and hope for the most amazing game of this decade. Go team India!

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.

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Updated: 19 Nov 2023, 10:34 AM IST