IND vs AUS Final: Ahmedabad pitch in controversy as Aussies raise concern

The issue involves watering on the wicket, which has not been extensive and some patches have been watered less than expected

The centre of the ground is the centre of attraction for the last two matches of the India cricket team as the Aussies have now raised concerns about the wicket to be used for the ICC Cricket World Cup final between the hosts India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. 

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The issue involved is that the wicket has not been watered extensively and quoting an Australian support staff, Cricbuzz.com reported, “The verdict was that these patches on both sides of the pitch had not been watered, or not to the same extent, anyway as the centre of the wicket.” 

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“Leaving the Aussie camp quite convinced that the spinners would come into play a lot more than they have on several pitches seen during the tournament, and from early in the piece too,” the member of the Aussie unite added further. 

The pitch issue was also raised during the semi-final between India and New Zealand, however, it died down soon as a perfect batting wicket was rolled out at Wankhede. Over there the concern was related to switching of the wickets from number 6 to another. 

For the final, the pitch used is the same as the one on which India played Pakistan in a league game. That wicket was slow and so would be this one as red by both the skippers- Australia’s Pat Cummins and India’s Rohit Sharma. 

“My understanding is it’s going to be on the slower side. But we have to assess what it is like tomorrow,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference. “Yeah, just had a look. It looked pretty firm...I think Pakistan played someone there!,” Cummins had earlier said about the pitch.