As the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team faced a heartbreaking defeat in the ODI World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, billions of dreams were crushed. For many Indian fans, even after months, India’s loss at the hands of Australia in the ODI World Cup Final remains fresh.
To reach the final the Indian team had to go through a ten-match winning streak which kept the hopes high up that the team would be able to break the ICC title drought since 2013. India hosted the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 and throughout the tournament their performance was praiseworthy.
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An important factor that was a topic of discussion surrounding the Indian team’s defeat was the condition of the pitch
A few factors suggested that the pitch was rigged for the game to be in India’s favor. In the following days, the nature of the pitch in the World Cup final was heavily discussed. Many believed that one of the major reasons behind India’s loss in the final was the slowness of the pitch. Former India batter Mohammed Kaif was a part of the broadcasting team in the tournament.
Mohammed Kaif made a shocking revelation that Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid were involved in the pitch’s preparation
Kaif claimed that the captain Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid Kaif claimed would visit the pitch on all three days leading up to the World Cup final. He also mentioned that he saw the “colour” of the pitch continuing to change.
Kaif disclosed on Guest in the Newsroom on TheLallanTop,
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
The former India batter also revealed,
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“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). You were roaming there, you are talking to him 100. ‘Ghaas kam karo, paani kam daalna,” do line hi toh bolni hain (Don’t use too much grass, don’t water it. You just have to say two lines). And there’s nothing wrong in that, you are the home team, take advantage. But we didn’t use it properly”
Many were surprised by India’s decision to bat first after Australia’s captain Pat Cummins won the toss
Cummins’ sharp reading of the pitch, played a key role in Australia executing their plans flawlessly and restricting India to 240.
Kaif continued,
“Cummins had the learning from the first match against India in Chennai. He had won the toss and batted first, and India won the game easily in the run-chase. In the final, teams usually don’t opt for fielding. We did that in 2003 and we lost. But Cummins learned from that and chased, irrespective of the occasion”
He also added,
“If it was a normal pitch… the form that Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav were in.. they were in great touch! If we had a flat pitch, 100% we would have won. Ham wicket me doctoring karne ke chakkar me phas gaye (We doctored the wicket, and that led to our loss)”
It really seems that the Indian team messed up while doctoring the pitch.
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