ST. LOUIS -- From exploring the football practice facility formerly known as Rams Park on a humid June afternoon, an outsider would never know that it is the place an NFL team once called home.

Now used for youth soccer, the home of the St. Louis Rams for more than two decades has been wiped clean. The weight room is now home to AstroTurf carpet with nary a dumbbell. The locker room has been remade, and there are no lockers to be found.

To find any reminder that the Rams were ever here, you have to find the one sign that can't easily be replaced. In the lobby of the building, a glass wall is still embossed with the words "St. Louis Rams" and the team logo's horns surrounding it.

But even that is hard to make out because, fittingly, the word Rams has been covered up by a small sign.

That poster reads, in clear, bold letters, "Let's Go Blues."

It's as much a sign of the times as it is a show of support for the local hockey team that just so happens to be one win away from its first Stanley Cup championship.

It's a small reminder of what a stirring postseason run can do for a team and also for a city that has had its share of challenges in recent years.

"Just watching people, watching the news, just the buzz around the city is just amazing, and people are excited," Patrick Maroon, Blues winger and St. Louis native, said. "It's just a city that needs this, a city that's been, I feel like, down, and that this is what we needed just to amp the city back up again."

Moving on

The Rams filed for relocation on Jan. 4, 2016. Less than two weeks later, the NFL granted their request. In their relocation application, the Rams didn't just sell their vision for Los Angeles. They painted St. Louis as a place where professional football had little chance of survival.

That application called St. Louis a "declining market with a weak economy," citing a lack of corporate support and suggesting that the city could not support three professional sports teams.

The 29-page document left St. Louisans furious. For as much as they were angry about losing professional football, they were more upset about how the Rams left and the idea that someone who was supposedly one of their own -- Rams owner Stan Kroenke is from Missouri and was named after Cardinals baseball legend Stan Musial -- could so brazenly turn his back on them.

"Unfortunately, there was an owner who lied to the people here," Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said. "That was what happened. Unfortunately, he wasn't truthful to the great people of this community and this city, and there's a lot of people walking around here with Rams tattoos all over their body who were pretty disappointed ... but I think to say this town is not a sports town is absolutely asinine, crazy. These people wake up in the morning, and they think about baseball and hockey."

Moving on from losing the Rams, the second NFL team that departed the city in 29 years, wasn't so simple. It didn't help matters that the Rams became kings of the NFC West in their second season in Los Angeles and made it to this year's Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals haven't been to the playoffs since the Rams left, and though the Blues made it to the NHL Western Conference finals in the months after the Rams' departure, they continued to come up short.

Signs of a St. Louis sports renaissance first cropped up with the PGA Championship at Bellerive last year, an event that saw golfers unfamiliar with St. Louis sports fans raving about the support they got.

That only set the stage for what the Blues have done.

"The city has been waiting for something special for so many years, and they finally get it," Maroon said. "After losing the Rams and we're trying to get a soccer team, we're just trying to get more people into the city ... but I think people don't realize what a great sports town this really is, and this is something special. I think this just shows people and proves [outsiders] wrong that this is a big-time sports town."

The soul of the city

If the Cardinals are the heart of the city, the Blues are its soul.

With 11 world titles and a rich tradition surpassed by only the New York Yankees, the Cardinals have the type of championship equity that brings an expectation of success.

The Blues, meanwhile, have offered many good seasons -- with plenty of heartbreaking defeats in never claiming hockey's top prize.

Speak to a passionate Blues fan about the team's tribulations, and you're sure to be reminded of Steve Yzerman's double-overtime goal in Game 7 of the 1996 playoffs, the injury to goalie Grant Fuhr that year, losing Wayne Gretzky to free agency, the curse of Scotty Bowman, being swept in three consecutive Finals appearances in the franchise's first three years, the Ralston Purina ownership debacle that nearly meant moving to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1983 and so many more. Growing up in St. Louis, actor Jon Hamm remembers going to Game 7 of the 1982 World Series and seeing the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, a championship that was the first a then-11-year-old Hamm witnessed.

Hamm, who has been a fixture at Blues games during this postseason run and long before it, said the joy of that championship will pale in comparison to what would happen if the Blues get another victory.

"I didn't think we'd ever get to the World Series, much less win one," Hamm said. "No one knew what to do. Everyone was just kind of randomly screaming. I think if this happens, it's going to be that times infinity."

'They drink their sports'

When the Rams moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995, a young receiver named Isaac Bruce was still making his way in the NFL. Entering his second season, Bruce was a relative unknown, but it didn't take long for him to fall in love with his new city or for him to see the kind of love he'd get in return.

Bruce, who still returns to St. Louis regularly for charitable events, remembers going to the team's first practice at Parkway Central High and seeing 4,000 people there to watch it. He went on to post what, at the time, was one of the most productive seasons by a receiver in league history. He instantly became the most recognizable Ram in town, a reputation that only grew as the Rams got better and the "Greatest Show on Turf" took the league by storm in 1999.

"They drink their sports," Bruce said. "They really get drunk on their sports and their sports teams and the players that play for their teams ... it lets you know that we were intertwined within the fabric of the community."

Nobody understands that concept better than Steve Albers. The owner of Center Ice Brewery in midtown, Albers is a lifelong Blues and hockey fan who has turned his two favorite hobbies into a passion.

Now Albers is invested in the team and the game in a way that few fans can claim.

Albers' dream of a hockey-themed brewery began in 2010, and he opened the doors to Center Ice in 2017. The bar is made of wood from the old St. Louis Arena, and the brewing equipment is surrounded by boards that traditionally surround a hockey rink.

"I was either going to build this place or die trying," Albers said. "And I will say there are reassurances that helped give me confidence for it."

Chief among those reassurances is the presence of Tom Stillman and the rest of the Blues' ownership group. Stillman has been the anti-Kroenke, regularly shaking hands and greeting fans at games and continuing to pour money into ways to grow the game locally.

Those things matter as St. Louis cultivates the next generation of Blues fans and, presumably, some future beer drinkers. And they helped provide a better long-term picture after the Blues missed the playoffs last season and Center Ice struggled without the additional business.

"It's my livelihood," Albers said. "It 100 percent is. You know, last year when the Blues missed the playoffs, I mean, I was ready to put a fist through a wall over a hockey game."

Ties that bind

While it was always common to see local athlete interaction, the bond between the Blues and Cardinals grew after the Rams' departure.

Wainwright, who is originally from southern Georgia, arrived in St. Louis in 2005 with hockey knowledge that was limited to NHL Hockey on Sega Genesis (and, of course, the unstoppable wraparound move). He has no recollection of the NHL playoffs, save for perhaps the Stanley Cup Final, even being on TV growing up in Brunswick, Georgia.

Within a few years in St. Louis, Wainwright got more and more into hockey, and his daughters have fallen in love with it, too. That means seeing Wainwright and his family along with catcher Yadier Molina and his family at Blues games is about as normal as seeing Charles Glenn performing the national anthem.

Got to meet a very special person tonight! Laila we were so blessed to meet you! We are all here cheering on our ⁦⁦@StLouisBlues⁩ and wanted to meet the secret weapon!!!Prayers up for you tonight! You are an inspiration!!!! pic.twitter.com/YNY3E8KCJ3

— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) May 22, 2019

Soon after the Washington Capitals were eliminated from this year's playoffs, Wainwright took note when former Blue T.J. Oshie was asked whom he wanted to win the Cup and immediately chose his former team.

"That speaks loudly," Wainwright said. "He knows how great those fans are and how much they love hockey in this town."

The strong ties among sports teams and fans in St. Louis appears to be growing. Adding a third professional sports team would be seen by some owners as a threat, but St. Louis is in prime position to land one of two Major League Soccer expansion franchises. The Cardinals and Blues are supportive at every step.

Carolyn Kindle Betz -- the leader of the St. Louis ownership group for the MLS expansion project, the current president of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation and the granddaughter of Enterprise Rental Car founder Jack Taylor -- is a relative neophyte in the world of soccer, though she and her family have long been at the center of many St. Louis improvement projects and charitable endeavors.

The St. Louis expansion bid is strong but not yet a done deal. In the meantime, Kindle Betz has received plenty of support, from fans stopping her on the street a couple times every week to repeated offers of help from Stillman and Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr.

"The statement they're making is, 'We all support one another,'" Kindle Betz said. "And so, to be able to kind of sit here and say, that would be really awesome. If we do get awarded that MLS team, that there's just one more piece of that puzzle."

It's perhaps no coincidence that many of the city's biggest projects are also getting major contributions from the owners of its local sports teams. Kindle Betz has been heavily involved in the dramatic reimagination of the Arch grounds for the better part of the past decade. The Cardinals are continuing expansion on Ballpark Village. Members of the Blues ownership group, some of whom are members of the Taylor family, are in on the MLS expansion bid. World Wide Technology, which is part of the Blues' ownership group, is the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season for the Muny, an outdoor theater in Forest Park, as well as the new title sponsor at Gateway Raceway.

In addition, those teams and companies are working to fill the philanthropic void left behind by the Rams while attempting to reach out to fans left behind who might not otherwise be interested in soccer, hockey or baseball.

"We need to make sure that our team and our coaching staff is diverse and represents the community that we live in," Kindle Betz said.

Putting the pieces together

While the Blues' run to within a game of the Stanley Cup has buoyed the city's morale (and had short-term economic benefits), there's undoubtedly still work to be done.

The murder rate still ranks at or near the top of most studies -- and has every year since 2014. Racial inequities and segregation remain issues. A study from Washington University entitled "Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide" reported that 12% of African American families in St. Louis live in areas of concentrated poverty, with less than 1% of white families in those same areas.

Business-wise, St. Louis currently has 10 companies in the Fortune 500, which is up from 2017 but still short of the 12 it had in 2000 and (when adjusted for how Fortune changed its methodology in 1994) the 23 that existed in 1980.

Efforts to revitalize the city have seen a series of stops and starts, but some believe a lack of cooperation between St. Louis City and St. Louis County is at the center of the issue. Recent census information shows that the city represents just 11 percent of the population of the St. Louis metro area, with 88 independent county municipalities surrounding it.

One local think tank estimates that a merger between city and county would make St. Louis the nation's 10th-largest city by population.

"I'd like to see us address the city and county relationship," said Bob Wallace, former high-ranking executive of the Rams and football Cardinals and current attorney at Thompson Coburn LLP. "You look at the cities that we compete with -- you know, Indy, Baltimore, Nashville -- they've come to some sort of arrangement where the city and county aren't competing for the same things."

A proposal for such an arrangement was recently pulled from ballot consideration by organizers of the "Better Together STL" initiative. That proposal would have needed statewide approval and came with many questions.

For now, there is nothing concrete on the table for official merger, but Lewis Reed, the president of the board of aldermen, says that doesn't mean there can't be unity.

"We can come to cooperative agreements right now that give us all the benefits of being together," Reed said. "We put together a regional commission to look at development issues. That same type of setup can be done for healthcare delivery services. The same thing can be done for our public safety services all the way up and down the line. That would help us streamline operations but not take on the big challenge of upending the political structure that people are comfortable with, mainly in the county."

Despite those issues, there are things St. Louis points to as positives, aside from the Blues' run of success.

New projects popping up around the city came in at more than $1 billion in 2018, and more have broken ground in 2019. The new facility for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is, perhaps, the most important project, at a cost of $1.7 billion, with expected completion in April 2023.

Beyond that, St. Louis has garnered praise for its development and incubation of startups, and SeekCapital.com, a consulting service for small businesses, recently ranked the St. Louis metro area at the top of the list of metro areas with the most female-owned startups.

"That redevelopment will allow us to address some of the issues of the divide that has existed in the city of St. Louis," Reed said. "And to redevelop areas of our cities that have been underdeveloped for so many years."

Setting a Blueprint

Perhaps nobody knows what an unexpected championship run can do for a city better than David Freese. The native St. Louisan was at the center of the city's favorite most recent sports memories.

The third baseman for the 2011 Cardinals championship team delivered two unforgettable moments in Game 6 of that year's World Series to help a team that had been left for dead during the season claim the game's ultimate prize.

"It was just chaos, absolute chaos," Freese said. "You know, we were a team that were pretty much out of it. And we just kept pushing and made it all the way to the end and beat Texas, and you know, the city just went on fire. And I think that would happen too if the Blues took the Cup.

"I think when you're in a city that loves its sports as much as St. Louis, and you end up winning a championship, it'll just be chaos. But it was awesome. And the people around there and the interaction with all the fans -- you can't beat the people of St. Louis."

On Jan. 2, the Blues had the fewest points in the NHL standings. Things were so bleak that they sent scouts to look at Jack Hughes, the player widely regarded as the top prospect in the 2019 NHL draft.

Since then, the Blues have proved to be the picture of resilience. When disaster has struck in the playoffs, moments, such as the hand pass that led to the losing goal in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against San Jose, that have in the past been the death knell for the Blues have turned into motivation.

Even the most jaded of fans has begun to believe that what looked impossible in January is now oh so real.

"We could use a win," Hamm said. "It's been a rough run for the city the last three decades or so, with the odd Cardinals championship here and there and whatnot. ... When you look back at Jan. 2, last in the league, to have the guts and fortitude and strength and character and the skill to come back from that ... yeah, I think these guys believe, and I think the city is starting to."

That belief has been impossible to miss since the Stanley Cup playoffs began. Games that aren't taking place in St. Louis have yielded sold-out watch parties at Enterprise Center. A watch party for Game 5 sold out in less than an hour. Television ratings have been through the roof, with Game 5 drawing a local rating of 30.1 on Thursday, making it the highest-rated Blues game ever in the market and the highest local rating in the country.

Home games have also drawn a steady stream of celebrity and athlete appearances, with the likes of Hamm, Cardinals Wainwright, Molina, Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt, former Rams Bruce and Chris Long, many former Blues, including Gretzky and Brett Hull, legendary track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee, actor Scott Bakula, actress Jenna Fischer and rapper Nelly among those who attended one or both of St. Louis' first two home games of the Stanley Cup Final.

All are from St. Louis, spent a large part of their careers here or both. All represent the thing St. Louis values the most.

"I think St. Louisans are really proud of their loyalty," 101 ESPN radio host Randy Karraker said.

Now -- win or lose -- more than ever.

India A 243 for 0 (Gaikwad 125*, Gill 109*) beat Sri Lanka A 242 for 7 (Jayasuriya 101, Jayaratne 79, Dube 2-47, Deshpande 2-51) by 10 wickets

India A continued their winning run against Sri Lanka A, romping to a ten-wicket victory in just 33.3 overs in the second one-dayer on Saturday.

Put in to bat at Union Gymkhana Ground in Belgaum, the Sri Lankans could put up only 242 for 7, and centuries from openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill meant an easy victory for the home team. Gill retired hurt with cramps when he was on 109 (off 96 balls), with the team score at 226 for no loss in 30 overs, but Gaikwad knocked off the remaining runs with No. 3 Prashant Chopra for company.

Gaikwad followed his 187* in the first match with a second consecutive unbeaten century, ending with 125 not out off 94 balls in this game. All the Sri Lanka A bowlers came in for some heavy punishment, with only Asitha Fernando going at less than a run a ball, conceding 28 runs in five overs.

Gaikwad and Gill were rapid from the start. While Gill got to his half-century in 40 balls, Gaikwad got to the milestone soon after, getting there off 44 balls. While Gill kept his pace even, Gaikwad accelerated sharply, getting to a century in just 78 balls, while Gill took 93.

Like Gaikwad, Shehan Jayasuriya also hit a second consecutive century, but his 101 off 139 balls could only shore up Sri Lanka A's innings after a horror start: Jayasuriya walked in at 7 for 2 in four overs, and quickly saw that become 27 for 4 inside the first ten overs.

Sri Lanka A had a couple of brief partnerships after that but the stand that revived their innings came only once they had been reduced to 81 for 6. Ishan Jayaratne, whose highest score in List A cricket was 42 coming into this game, hit out for 79 not out off 73 balls, sharing in a 142-run stand with Jayasuriya that ended only in the 49th over.

For India A, Tushar Deshpande took 2 for 51 and Shivam Dube had 2 for 47 and Shreyas Gopal was parsimonious, taking 1 for 26 in seven overs. Washington Sundar was the only bowler without a wicket, but he bowled ten economical overs for 38.

South Africa coach Ottis Gibson wants the focus to turn from AB de Villiers back to the cricket, as his team prepares to take on West Indies in a game they really cannot afford to lose. Speaking in Southampton on Saturday, Gibson was clearly not happy to entertain too many questions on de Villiers.

"Personally I suspect there are a lot of people wanting AB to be here [more] than AB himself," Gibson said. "If he wanted to be here he would be here."

During the course of the press conference, he went on to say: "Are we going to talk about this all the time? Or are we going to prepare for the West Indies game." He also said: "Feels like its a court case here."

On Thursday, ESPNcricinfo reported that de Villiers had offered to come out of retirement to play the World Cup, just a day before the squad was named. The team management turned de Villiers down since he did fulfil the selection criteria - playing domestic and international cricket in the months leading up to the World Cup - and they felt picking him would be unfair on the players who had been performing in his absence. De Villiers had retired from international cricket in May 2018, saying he was tired.

South Africa have begun World Cup 2019 with three losses in a row, and they would need to win most of their remaining six games to have a realistic chance of progressing to the semi-finals. Gibson said of the situation: "I can't recall in recent history a team picking a guy that's retired."

"Nobody's shaken up, nobody's died or anything... When we played in South Africa we won eight of the last 10 games... You guys [the media] weren't asking those questions then."

He said he hoped the players picked in de Villiers' absence would take this opportunity to show their mettle and that they deserved to be at the World Cup. "I would want them to flip it the other way and show everyone that they deserve to be here.

"It's only us that can change it [perceptions]... We can talk about AB all we want but he's not here and he cannot help us. Only we can help us.

"We have to keep believing in ourselves and in the people who are here to do well in the tournament."

Gibson admitted the team management was wary of the de Villiers story popping up during the tournament, and said they had spoken with the team about keeping focus should such "distractions" occur. "I guess guys are disappointed that it's come out at the time that it's come out," he said. "When we got together in camp, we spoke about managing distractions, that was one of the things that we said could come up.

"I don't imagine it is going to affect the way that we play cricket, [but] we haven't played very well so far and it is disappointing."

More to follow

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

A net bowler working with the Australian team at The Oval has been given the all-clear after a precautionary scan, after he was struck on the head during training.

The medium-pacer, Jai Kishan, was bowling to David Warner and was hit by a shot that came back at him before he could react.

Kishan was treated immediately on the field by the medical staff present at the ground before being strapped onto a medivac and transferred to hospital. He was reportedly conscious and smiling before he left.

A CT scan showed no damage, though he is still being monitored for delayed concussion and other after-effects. He has since spoken to the Australian doctor and said he is feeling much better

The Australian players, clearly shaken by the incident, suspended their training for around 20 minutes and gathered at the side of the nets. Aaron Finch, speaking to the media just after the incident, said Warner had been particularly affected.

"Dave was obviously pretty shaken up," Finch said. "The young guy seems to be in pretty good spirits at the moment. He's obviously been taken off to hospital and will continue to be assessed just to make sure that everything is okay. But yeah, Dave was pretty shaken up, no doubt. It was a decent hit to the head. Hopefully everything keeps going well for the youngster and he's back up and running shortly. It was tough to watch."

While it is not a common occurrence for net bowlers to be hit during training, there have been a number of incidents that have raised concerns in the past. England Test bowler James Anderson has previously suggested that net bowlers could wear protective equipment, such as helmets.

"Yeah, that could be a decent idea, Finch said. "Again, it's a bit like everything; it's such a personal preference for net bowlers, and we're very lucky to have so many of them come in and want to bowl to us and help us prepare as best we can for the game. But I think it's going to be a personal preference. It's lucky that there were so many good medical team on standby.

"It's quite rare that somebody gets hit, and it's obviously very unfortunate. The medical staff that were on hand, obviously our own medical staff, doctor and physio and also the medical staff, paramedics at the ground, did a great job in being there very quickly to assess and make sure that all the right protocols and right processes were put in place. Yeah, maybe -- it is a difficult one because you get some guys that are coming in and who probably aren't as well-equipped with their game to be able to deal with that."

Big picture

It began exactly three months ago, in Ranchi. Coming into that game, Australia had won only eight of their last 33 ODIs going back to the start of 2017, and were still coming to terms with their two best batsmen serving a year-long ban. Their captain Aaron Finch was struggling to buy a run, and India's fast bowlers, away and at home, had been ruthlessly zoning in on his frailties against the incoming ball.

India had just beaten Australia 2-1 in an ODI series in their own backyard, and were leading the five-match return series 2-0.

Everything turned around in Ranchi, where Finch made 93 in a 32-run win for Australia. Since that innings, Finch has averaged 71.44. Since that match, Australia have won ten ODIs on the bounce, the last two at this World Cup with a full-strength squad including David Warner and Steven Smith.

This Australian resurgence has challenged what had been a pretty set narrative in the months preceding the World Cup, that England and India would be the teams to beat, with the rest trailing some way behind. Nope, Australia have snarled. We're here too.

And, in their most recent game against West Indies, they did that most Australian thing, that don't-kid-yourselves-thinking-we're-beaten thing. Think Mohali, 1996, or Headingley, 1999, or Port Elizabeth, 2003. The fear factor is back.

Their opponents on Sunday, however, won't be scared. India occupy a different level of ODI pedigree to the two teams Australia have beaten at this tournament so far. Their batsmen aren't going to get out slogging when the required rate is under control, as West Indies' did. Their bowlers, you suspect, wouldn't have let them turn 79 for 5 to 288 all out. India will give Australia plenty to worry about - if not fear - themselves. Jasprit Bumrah is bowling like a demon, the wristspinners are whirring away menacingly, Rohit Sharma has begun his tournament with a match-winning hundred, and Virat Kohli is, well, Virat Kohli.

This World Cup has already seen some fine contests. We've seen Pakistan defy expectations against England, Bangladesh methodically dismantle South Africa, West Indies rattle Australia, and New Zealand wobble alarmingly against Bangladesh. But we haven't yet seen a clash of the big contenders. Sunday will be just that.

Form guide

Australia WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India WLLLW

In the spotlight

Usman Khawaja's form leading up to the World Cup - five fifties and two hundreds in his last ten innings, at the top of the order - prompted Australia to push him to No. 3 and leave out Shaun Marsh to accommodate David Warner and Steven Smith. His first two innings at the tournament, however, have brought him scores of 15 and 13, and awkward dismissals on both occasions. Can he turn his form around against one of the best bowling attacks in the world?

India's last ODI visit to The Oval wasn't a happy one, but their defeat in the Champions Trophy final included one incredible innings: Hardik Pandya's 43-ball 76, with six sixes and a control percentage of 100. Pandya was out injured during India's recent home series against Australia, and his subsequent return to fitness and peak hitting form has been one of the team's biggest positives going into the World Cup.

Team news

Australia have played the same XI in both their games so far, and though some of their players haven't hit top form just yet, there isn't a compelling reason to make any changes just yet.

Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam Zampa

Given Australia's troubles against the short ball against West Indies, India could look to bring Mohammed Shami - who can hurry batsmen with the bouncer, as he showed during a six-wicket haul in the Perth Test in December - into their attack. Who could he come in for, though? Bhuvneshwar Kumar would be the obvious option, but without him India's tail will begin at No. 8, unless they also replace one of the wristspinners with Ravindra Jadeja. Playing all three quicks could also be an option, if the conditions point in that direction.

India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 KL Rahul, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Pitch and conditions

The Oval has been among the most high-scoring grounds in England since the 2015 World Cup, and a flat pitch can be expected once again. The weather is expected to be dry with a bit of wind about.

Strategy punts

• If Australia go in with the same team balance they chose against West Indies, they'll again need Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis to share the fifth bowler's quota. Given that they're likeliest to bowl the bulk of their overs through the middle Powerplay (11-40), India could think of promoting Hardik Pandya to No. 5, if they're in a position to do so, and take advantage of having only four fielders protecting the boundary. Apart from Maxwell and Stoinis, it would also put pressure on Adam Zampa, who has suffered at Pandya's six-hitting hands in the past.

• One way for Australia to use up a couple of Maxwell's overs could be to give him the new ball. Shikhar Dhawan has been out six times to offspin in ODIs since the start of 2018, and averages 22.50 against that style of bowling in that period.

Stats and trivia

• Australia have an 8-3 record against India in the World Cup, and have only lost once in seven meetings - the 2011 quarter-final in Ahmedabad - since the 1992 edition.

• Australia (11 out of 11) and India (5 out of 5) are the only two teams to have taken 100% of their catches at the World Cup so far.

• Apart from the middle overs, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have also been a valuable source of wickets in the early death overs (41-45). Chahal has 18 wickets at an average of 14.27 in this phase, while conceding just 5.39 per over. Kuldeep has been almost as impressive: 16 wickets, an average of 18.12, and an economy rate of 6.49.

• Marcus Stoinis needs 18 runs to get to 1000 in ODIs.

Quotes

"Winning those last three games in India gave us some self-belief we can beat this side in their home conditions and that gives us real confidence coming into a game like this."
Australia captain Aaron Finch

"See, short ball for any batsman is not easy. Even the best guy who can pull the ball, who can hook the ball, will find it difficult. We understand that. And probably we have the bowling attack to do that. Having said that, you don't want to be carried away with that."
Rohit Sharma weighs in on the biggest tactical trend of this World Cup

It's not quite the new India-Sri Lanka, but if auditions were being held for India's new go-to opponent, it's fair to say Australia would be a shoo-in. All that's needed is for India to postpone a series, or pull out of one and rope Australia in as a last-minute banker. It will happen soon enough.

The two sides have already played eight ODIs across both countries this year alone, and without looking it up, if you can remember how the two series panned out, you're welcome to take over Statsguru.

A lot has been made of the ICC's desire to ensure India and Pakistan play at every one of their events. But the two teams that have actually played against each other most often at ICC events? India and Australia. And the punchline to this is that New Zealand and Sri Lanka are the two other teams who have played each other most often at ICC events (both rivalries, 20 games young now).

But it's not just those eight ODIs - and Tests and T20Is. It's also about how the IPL is a virtual home for Australians, opponents to and team-mates of the players they take on at The Oval on Sunday. For the degree of familiarity, if the two teams combined to put out one team at an ICC event, nobody would bat an eyelid.

Yet the overkill has served a purpose for Australia at least. It was the ODI series in India earlier this year where they turned around their ODI form, form which now is accompanied by all those murmurs that this (like five others) is Australia's World Cup.

Now it's not as if they are genetically wired to win cricket tournaments, but you can see why people are thinking it. They're winning games - and the win over West Indies was exactly the kind of win that's not going to dial this talk down.

Steven Smith and David Warner are back, with runs. It's Australia. They've found a way to win an early tough game. Their captain believed, even without Warner and Smith, and back when they couldn't win a backyard game, that he had the side to win this World Cup. Watch out. This is a trope that endures as much as the one around Pakistan at these tournaments.

But that familiarity with India will help them on Sunday in, for example, knowing what to expect when Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal come on. On that last tour, Australia picked up quick on how to play each and controlling Kuldeep was instrumental in turning a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 win.

"Yeah, I think winning them last three games is really important for us in India, to one, get some self-belief that we can beat this Indian side in their home conditions," Aaron Finch said. "For that, I think when you look back, it comes down to taking them key moments in games and making sure that no matter what the situation of the game or the series or the tournament, whenever you're playing India, you have to believe that you can beat them because they're a world-class side.

"So to be able to beat them in their home conditions three times in a row was really important for the confidence of the side, especially going into a game like this."

The problem with this India attack - and side - is that it isn't just the one or two. There's difficulties everywhere. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to see off, there's Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to see the backs of. There's Hardik Pandya to account for. Even late-career MS Dhoni, nowadays modelling the Misbah-ul-Haq approach with the bat.

And as much as Australia have the confidence of beating them recently, and playing with and against them a lot, one-off tournament games are unforgiving. Before you know it they're over and if you learnt something in the way you were dismissed, or how one batsman played you, there's no immediate point: this isn't a bilateral series.

"We saw in the latest series we played against them that regardless of what the scoreline might be, whoever turns up and produces their best on the day will win," Finch said. "It's about everyone chipping in and contributing as best they can to help Australia win tomorrow."

PARIS -- Novak Djokovic's 26-match Grand Slam winning streak ended with a dramatic 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 loss Saturday to Dominic Thiem in a rain-interrupted French Open semifinal that spanned more than four hours over two days.

Thiem wasted two match points with quick unforced errors when serving for the victory at 5-3 in the fifth, but he made his third chance count, smacking a forehand winner to break Djokovic in the last game.

"It's never easy to go on, go off, put the system on 100% and go down to 0% in the locker," Thiem said. "But if you win, everything is good."

The top-ranked Djokovic had trouble with Thiem, to be sure, but also with the weather, with the chair umpire and with his odd propensity for heading to the net much more often than usual, including some serve-and-volleying that often failed.

"Look, there is always something large at stake when you're one of the top players of the world and play in the biggest tournaments," Djokovic said. "These kind of matches, one or two points decide a winner."

He was stopped two victories short of collecting his fourth consecutive major championship, a run that began on the grass at Wimbledon last July, then continued on the hard courts of the US Open and Australian Open.

Instead, it is Thiem, an Austrian ranked No. 4, who now gets a chance to win his first Grand Slam trophy on the red clay of Roland Garros.

Thiem will face 11-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal on Sunday in a rematch of last year's final. Nadal won that one, part of an 8-4 lead for the Spaniard in their head-to-head series.

"All the time, if someone reaches the finals here, it's against Rafa," Thiem said with a laugh.

It will be the fourth straight day that Thiem is in action because of postponements, whereas Nadal will be well-rested, having played his quarterfinal Tuesday and his semifinal Friday, when he beat Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

On Friday, Thiem had just broken Djokovic to go up a break at 3-1 in the third set when their match was suspended because of a shower. They resumed 18 1/2 hours later, in dry, breezy conditions. The wind that was so fierce Friday -- spreading loose, rust-colored clay dust from the court surface all over the place, making for something that seemed like a sandstorm -- was much more manageable Saturday. It rippled players' shirts but did not cause havoc with serve tosses and shots the way it had the evening prior.

They repeatedly engaged in long and entertaining baseline exchanges that lasted 10 shots, 20 shots or more. They used speed and anticipation to track down each other's shots. They walloped the ball from all angles.

The very longest of these tended to go Djokovic's way: He won 37 of 61 points (61%) of nine or more strokes.

For whatever reason, Djokovic felt compelled to try to shorten points on occasion, hardly his usual strategy.

So that led to this key statistic: He won only 35 of 71 points when he went to the net. Thiem, meanwhile, took 18 of 20 on his more judicious forays forward.

The most glaring examples of this came at the end of the third set, when it appeared Djokovic might really be letting the whole match get away.

Serving at 15-all while down 6-5, Djokovic was agitated by a warning from chair umpire Jaume Campistol for letting the serve clock expire and wouldn't let it go, complaining during the game and, more vociferously, at the changeover, so much so that he was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The lack of focus drifted into his choices during points, too, including a mediocre volley that let Thiem deposit a backhand passing winner for a fourth set point. Yet another serve-and-volley attempt came next, and Thiem produced a low forehand return right at Djokovic's feet to end the set.

All match, Djokovic kept digging a hole, then climbing out. Could he do it again?

He was three points from defeat while serving at love-15, down 5-4 in the fourth set, but came through there to hold, broke in the next game when Thiem double-faulted, and forced a fifth.

Then Djokovic got broken to trail 3-1 in the deciding set when he missed a volley, and Thiem held for 4-1.

At deuce in the ensuing game, a shower came. Shortly before they came back to play, Djokovic tried to stay loose by playing soccer with a tennis ball while Thiem did sprints in a stadium hallway.

On the first point when they returned, Djokovic paused, thinking a shot by Thiem landed out. Campistol ruled it was in. Djokovic eventually took that game. But he was a point from losing when Thiem served at 5-3, 40-15. Except, Thiem just couldn't close.

Dumped a backhand into the net. Pushed a backhand wide. Sent a forehand long. Slapped a backhand into the net.

That could have been it for him. Hard to recover from that sort of collapse, especially against someone like Djokovic.

But Thiem regrouped in time. It was Djokovic who faltered, something not seen on a Grand Slam stage since the 2018 French Open quarterfinals.

Ashleigh Barty stormed to her first Grand Slam title Saturday, defeating Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-3 to win the French Open title.

In the first major final for both players, Barty was dominant, breaking Vondrousova on all three of her service games in the first set and twice more in the second, including the title-clinching game.

Vondrousova, 19, was the first teenage finalist at the French Open in more than a decade. She had not lost a set in this tournament prior to Saturday.