Former India batting coach Vikram Rathour has rubbished the claims of using a doctored pitch for the World Cup 2023 final against Australia.
Notably, the strip at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad came under the scanner after India’s loss to Australia in the title clash of the tournament.
Team India were on an unbeaten streak of 10 matches in the World Cup 2023, but they were outplayed by Australia in the final.
On a slow pitch, Indian batters failed to get going and managed to post only 240/10 in 50 overs after being asked to bat first.
In reply, the Aussies rode on Travis Head’s stunning hundred (137 off 120) and Marnus Labuschagne’s unbeaten half-century (58 off 110) to seal the chase with seven overs remaining.
Following India’s comprehensive defeat, the pitch served for the World Cup final made a lot of noise. In fact, former India batter Mohammad Kaif went on to claim that the strip for the final was doctored to suit the home team but it backfired.
After the end of his tenure as India batting coach, Rathour opened up on the allegations of pitch tampering, saying that the team management thought that the surface will get slower as the game will progress but it ended up getting better to bat.
“I’ve heard this story that the pitch was different, which I don’t agree with at all. In the final, the pitch improved as the game progressed; we expected it to get slower, which it didn’t, so why did that happen? Yes, we could have scored more runs. There are so many ifs and buts, but one thing is sure: you need a little luck to win a tournament. And that day, Australia were luckier than us. They played better cricket than us. And that’s the reason they won,” Rathour told Sportstar.
Earlier, Kaif had accused former head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma of doctoring the World Cup 2023 final pitch.
"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 had said in an exclusive chat with Lallantop.
"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," he further remarked.
