(Cricket News) In team sports, “home advantage” refers to the advantages that the home team has over the visiting team. Examples of these advantages include the supporters in the stands, their unique perspective on the field, and their familiarity with the dimensions and circumstances of the venue.
Before the Ahmedabad final, the top five had averaged 67.6. The pacers were slicing through opponents, the spinners were doing much more than holding up one end, and all of them were in excellent form with no obvious weaknesses.
One could argue that home advantage should not have mattered to this Indian team because they were on a 10-match winning streak and their level of play was astounding their opponents.
Therefore, why did the Indian Board of Control for Cricket feel the need to prod the curator of the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch to create a wicket that is only described as slow and dry? Were they afraid that Australia’s experience in big matches would prove a threat to them, or were they just trying to be too clever by half?
During TV commentary, former Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting said that India’s pitch ploy “backfired on them” as the Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne stand put them in a tight spot. “It was very, very sub-continental conditions today,” he said. “A wicket preparation that has probably ended up backfiring on India is totally fair.”
Speaking on Sky Sports, former England captain Nasser Hussain said that India’s inexperienced lower order caused KL Rahul and Virat Kohli to adopt a defensive strategy after losing three wickets in quick succession.
He also said that the slow pace of the wicket made it difficult to play shots, which resulted in India hitting just two boundaries in a 29-over phase following Rohit Sharma’s dismissal.
Hussain stated on Sky Sports, “India are still a great side, but the pitch brought Australia into it. That is why Rahul and Kohli could not go hard because they were worried about Shami at No.8, and India’s four bowlers’ poor batting performance came back to haunt them.”
This was no ordinary Ahmedabad wicket, after all. In the May IPL final, Gujarat Titans (GT) scored 214 runs in their 20 overs, and Chennai Super Kings replied by smashing 171 in 15 overs to win by five wickets (DLS method).
GT also scored 233 in the playoffs, and they had scored more than 200 on three other occasions. Previous results indicate that the track can typically be good for batting and offer value for shots. Shubman Gill scored 890 runs in the season, and a large portion of those runs came at this venue.
In an interview with Fox Sports, former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee expressed his belief that India’s world-class pace attack could have benefited from a bouncer wicket. “I was surprised; if you have a look at the Indian attack, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, they have been on fire this World Cup,” Lee said.
“I actually thought they would try to nick off the Aussie top order. If they could have made some serious inroads early, that would have been their best way to try and take that 240 and dominate. I was surprised they prepared a low and slow wicket, which did not help them.”
The 92,435 spectators at the stadium came to watch a team win on the strength of their skills; no match, let alone a major final, should be decided by the flip of a coin. When outside factors start to get involved, it takes the fun out of the contest and makes players rely on a variable no one can truly control.
Australia was clearly the better team on the day, but whoever was in charge loaded the dice and made it a lottery, one in which India could not get the right numbers. Trying to get a certain kind of pitch also conveys the fear of losing—not a message to send out before a big final. In every sport, there is a luck component, but both teams usually play on an even field.
The emphasis on the pitch’s characteristics needs to be dropped if India is to be the best in the world. Attempting to control the circumstances exposes a vulnerability rather than a strength, and on Sunday, it contributed to the defeat of a team that had appeared all but unbeatable for the majority of the competition.
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