The Indian cricket team is currently riding the high of of the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph. Rohit Sharma and his men ended a 11-year drought for an ICC title by beating South Africa in the final. However, few months ago the situation was completely different. India, seemingly invincible till that stage, lost to Australia in the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad. If the loss was not enough, a couple of months later, former India star Mohammad Kaif said that pitch had been deliberately made slow.
“I was there for three days. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid inspected the pitch every day for 3 days ahead of the final. They stood beside the pitch for an hour every day. I saw the pitch change its colour. There was no watering the pitch, no grass on the track. India wanted to give Australia a slow track. This is the truth, even if people don’t want to believe it,” Kaif said on Lallantop in an interview.
Now, Viram Rathour, ex-batting coach of the Indian cricket team, who was there for both T20 World Cup 2014 and the ODI World Cup 2023, broke his silence on the issue.
“I’ve heard this story that the pitch was different, which I don’t agree with at all. We played on similar wickets in the earlier matches as well. Matches against Australia, Pakistan and England were also played on slow pitches. The Ahmedabad pitch, however, eased out,” Rathour told Sportstar.
It was India captain Rohit Sharma who won the toss and opted to bat first. Australia Pat Cummins, on the other hand, was happy to bowl first, knowing that the pitch is likely to get better as the day progressed.
“The feeling was that Australia had Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc, so India wanted to give a slow pitch, and that was our mistake. Many people say that curators do their own thing and we don’t influence – that is rubbish. When you are moving around the pitch – 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,” Kaif added.
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