Rahul Dravid Blames India CWC Loss On The Pitch: India lost the Cricket World Cup 2023 final to Australia on November 19 in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium in what is seen as a minor upset. Indian head coach Rahl Dravid has now pointed fingers at the pitch as one of the reasons for the loss.
While batting first, India, who had been a fantastic batting side throughout the tournament, were rolled over and wrapped up for a near-par score of 240< India did have a solid start while defending the total, even taking 3 wickets in the first 10 overs, but then a near 200 run partnership between Marnus Labuschagne and Player of the Match Travis Head took the game away from India.
While the final is usually played on a fresh pitch, the pitch used for India vs Australia match at the Narendra Modi Stadium was the same one used for the India vs Pakistan match earlier in the tournament.
CHECK OUT: Rahul Dravid Blames India CWC Loss On The Pitch
During the match on the black soil pitch, Indian spinners notably were not very effective in the middle overs. India’s spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja had played the crucial role of taking wickets in the middle overs, something that did not happen in the final.
Rahul Dravid Blames India CWC Loss On The Pitch
Before the team for the upcoming tour to South Africa was announced, BCCI held a meeting with team captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid. When asked to explain the loss to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and the other officials present in the meeting, Dravid had this to say about the loss –
“We didn’t get the turn from the pitch as we were expecting; otherwise, our spinners would have won the game for us.”
With all that being said, it cannot be understated how well the Australians read the pitch. What seemed like an odd choice of bowling first in the final against India turned out to be the correct decision.
On the other hand, the Indian got the pitch wrong. Following the toss, Rohit Sharma claimed he would have chosen to bat first even if he had won the toss
Having not played in the ongoing T20I series against Australia, Rohit Sharma will not be part of the Indian squad for ODIs and T20Is against South Africa and will just lead the Test side.
Whereas Rahul Dravid recently saw his contract as the head coach of the Indian Men’s Cricket Team extend.
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