Former Indian player Mohammad Kaif recently re-opened the debate around the pitch doctored for India in the 2023 World Cup final at Ahmedabad as well. However, Team India failed to do well with the bat on a tricky wicket, scoring only 240 in their 50 overs. However, the pitch did well in the second innings, helping the Aussies to chase down the target comfortably in 43 overs with six wickets in hand.

And, the conversation post-match was around the Indian side failing to perform in the Ahmedabad pitch and Kaif firmly confirmed the same in an interview with Lallantop recently as well.

“The thought was to give them a slow pitch and they (India) did a mistake there. People say curator did his job, we didn’t say anything. It’s all rubbish! You were roaming there , you are talking to him (curator). ‘Grass kam karo, paani kum daalna’ (reduce the grass coverage, don’t water much). You only have to say two lines. There’s nothing wrong in that, you are the home team, take advantage. But we didn’t use it properly,” he said.

“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 color of the pitch change. No watering, no grass. It became a very slow pitch. This is the truth,” further added Kaif.

However, the two-paced nature of the wicket saw India struggle in the middle overs after a fast start of 76/1 in the 10th over. Meanwhile, after the first few overs in the second innings, the Australian batters started steadying the ship and eventually won.

“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. Hum wicket mei doctoring karne ke chakkar me phas gaye (we messed up while trying to doctor the pitch),” concluded Mohammad Kaif.