Cricket World Cup final: India's Rohit Sharma ready to carry hopes of a nation

India captain Rohit Sharma insists he and his players will stay "calm and composed" amid the mounting hysteria ahead of Sunday's Cricket World Cup final in Ahmedabad.

The in-form hosts face five-time champions Australia with a cricket-obsessed nation of more than a billion people hoping, praying and perhaps in some cases expecting a victory.

More than 130,000 of those will be shoehorned into Narendra Modi Stadium, the biggest cricket stadium in the world, as India look to seal their third World Cup triumph and second on home soil following their success in 2011.

Understandably, many of the questions at Rohit's pre-match press conference focused on the almost unfathomable pressure those circumstances must create.

Yet while acknowledging the gargantuan scale of the event, the India captain did his best to remain stoic.

“Emotionally it’s a big thing, a big occasion. Whatever hard work and dreams you have, you have for this. That day is in front of us,” he said.

“But the biggest challenge for professional athletes is how they can put all this aside and focus on their work. So along with me, all the other 10 players who will play tomorrow, their focus will be more on their work for the team, rather than thinking, ‘this is the biggest moment of my life’.

“Of course it is, there is no doubt. In the back of the mind it is there, you can’t hide from that. But it’s really important to remain calm in such situations because if you are calm and composed, then you can play your role and you can make good decisions in the pressure situation.

“The occasion is very big. You don’t get such occasions every time. You don’t get a chance to play in the finals every time. Since childhood, I’ve grown up watching the 50-over World Cup so, for