Former India opener Mohammed Kaif has reignited the debate over the role of the Ahmedabad pitch in India’s defeat to Australia in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup last year. The hosts (India) went into the final in Ahmedabad in hot form, having won 10 matches in a row, but eventually lost to Pat Cummins’ side by 6 wickets, dashing the hopes of over a billion people.
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Much has been made of the sluggish Ahmedabad pitch, which made it difficult for the Indian batsmen to score runs, and eased down a little in the evening, ultimately helping the Aussies. While a number of experts have stated in the past that the host team has no role in the preparation of a World Cup final pitch, Kaif insists that the Indian team management played a major role in deciding on the slow pitch for the World Cup final and claims that India did not use their home advantage wisely.
In an interaction with The Lallantop, Kaif said, “I was there for three days, did a lot of shows. Rohit Sharma came in the evening with Dravid, went to the pitch, stood there for an hour and went back. They came again on the second day, and did the same thing. This went on for three days, and I saw the colour of that pitch change. I wore a blue shirt today, it would look yellow three days later… that was the extent of that change,”
“No watering, no grass. It became a very slow pitch. This is the truth. There were Cummins and Starc, they bowled quick, and the thought was to give them a slow pitch, and they did make a mistake there. People say ‘curator did his job, we didn’t say anything’. Sab bakvaas hai (It’s all rubbish). the former Indian batter added.
Kaif hinted that Rohit and Dravid may have asked the curator to not add any more water and reduce the grass on the Ahmedabad pitch. He said, “When you are moving around the pitch -you are talking to him (curator) 100 times- you have to say just two lines, please don’t put water, just reduce the grass. This happens. That is truth. And it should be done. You are playing at home. And we did it a little too much.”
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Published: 17 Mar 2024, 09:16 AM IST