Australia captain Pat Cummins is reportedly ‘concerned’ about the state of the pitch being used in the Cricket World Cup final against India.
The Aussies face the hosts in Ahmedabad on Sunday in front of over 100,000 fans. They will be underdogs against Rohit Sharma’s side, who have reached the final on the back of 10 straight wins. India have a powerful batting line-up and the best bowling attack in the tournament – and they will also have other factors on their side.
As well as being able to call on a vociferous home crowd, India will have conditions in their favour. Having sparked controversy by swapping pitches for the semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai, they appear to have prepared a surface favourable to their spin bowlers for the final.
“I’m not a great pitch reader, but it looks pretty firm,” Cummins said in his pre-match press conference. “It’s only just been watered, so we’ll give it 24 hours to have another look. But it looks pretty good.”
Cummins was diplomatic in public, but the Sydney Morning Herald reports that he made his feelings clear to ground staff while inspecting the wicket beforehand. And sources close to the Aussie team have claimed the pitch is ‘rock hard’ in the middle but rough and unrolled at both ends.
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While Australia only have one frontline spinner in their side, Adam Zampa, India have two world-class spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. They are so packed in the area that the hugely experienced Ravichandran Ashwin does not get into their side. Australia have had some success with the off-spin of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and part-timer Travis Head and may need big performances from them if the pitch takes spin from the off on Sunday.
Although he didn’t speak about the pitch, Cummins did acknowledge the added difficulty provided by the gigantic crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium. "The crowd's obviously going to be very one-sided but in sport, there's nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that's the aim for us tomorrow," he said.
There was clear rough visible on the pitch (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)"You've just got to embrace every part of a final. You know in the lead-up there's going to be noise and more people and interest and you just can't get overwhelmed."
He added: "We know it's going to be a packed house. There's going to be 130,000 fans here supporting India. So it's going to be awesome. They've been playing really well, undefeated this tournament. But we know at our best we can give them a good shake."
India have dominated throughout the tournament, winning all nine of their group games before overcoming New Zealand in the semi-final. Victory on Sunday would secure their third World Cup title and make them the first unbeaten champions since Australia in 2007.
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