WTC Final 2023: Ahmedabad Pitch Report – India captain Rohit Sharma has called for preparing a surface similar to Kennington Oval. The reason? Rohit wants India Cricket Team to practice on similar conditions that India will have in the WTC Final on June 7. With grass on the surface likely to be on the Oval pitch, Ahmedabad could move away from a rank-turner to a greentop come March 9. India are just a win away in IND vs AUS series from confirming WTC Final spot. Australia and SriLanka are fighting for the remaining spot. Follow Border Gavaskar Trophy LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
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🗣️ Here’s Captain @ImRo45 explaining the importance of running through the overs quickly #TeamIndia | #INDvAUS | @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/sV4LpnVPb2
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2023
The fact that India won’t have any red ball practice before the WTC Final due to IPL 2023, Rohit wants to take advantage of the situation and use Ahmedabad for dress rehearsal against Australia, who are likely to be India’s opponent in WTC final.
“There is definitely a possibility of that. We have already spoken about it. We need to get the guys ready for it. The important one is Shardul Thakur because he comes into the planning for us. We don’t know how ready he is since he has just gotten married. We don’t know how many overs he has bowled. But that thought process is definitely there. If we do what we do here and get the result we want, we might think of doing something different in Ahmedabad for sure,” Rohit Sharma said before the Indore Test.
WTC Final 2023: Greentop in Ahmedabad? Rohit Sharma calls GCA to prepare pitch similar to Oval for WTC preparation before IPL 2023, Follow LIVE Updates
The problem for Team India is the lack of time to prepare for the marquee final. Unlike last time, India will only have 10 days to prepare as the IPL 2023 ends on May 28. India already have a precedence of preparing seam-friendly wickets to prepare for England or South Africa tours.
India had prepared a green top at Eden Gardens to face SriLanka in 2017 to prepare for the SouthAfrica tour. If India seal the deal at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, there is a possibility that Gujarat Cricket Association curators could leave some grass at the Narendra Modi Stadium surface.
“It’ll be a different ball game, for both teams actually. Actually, I don’t want to talk about the World Test Championship. We’re not there yet. We have to win this game and then talk about it. That’ll be the right thing to do,” Rohit said.
WTC Final 2023: Greentop in Ahmedabad? Rohit Sharma calls GCA to prepare pitch similar to Oval for WTC preparation before IPL 2023, Follow LIVE Updates
Change in team combination – The change in pitch will also be made for India’s seamers, especially Shardul Thakur. Rohit has already declared Shardul Thakur as part of big plans for WTC Final. India may sacrifice one or more spinners for Ahmedabad Test to accommodate Shardul, who is not even in the squad for the 3rd Test.
How can India qualify?
- India second with 64 percentage point in the WTC Standings.
- Australia are at the top with 67 PCT but their advanatge will be washed off if they lose the Indore Test.
- India need to win the series at any cost.
- Rohit Sharma-led India can still qualify with a draw in the 3rd and 4th Tests.
- To put it in simple terms, India need to win at least 1 match out of two.
- India are leading 2-0 but it is still not enough as SriLanka can leapfrog India if they clean-sweep NewZealand 2-0.
- South Africa and West Indies have been knocked out already.
- For Australia, they need at least a draw to WTC Final slot.
- Australia can qualify as the No 1 team if they win at least one out of Indore or Ahmedabad Tests.
- However, they can still seal the WTC Final even if India clean sweep 4-0 if SriLanka lose to NewZealand in any Test.
- The only way Australia can be knocked out is if they lose to India 0-4 and SriLanka blank New Zealand 2-0.
“Just speaking of it from the outside, I don’t think England is going to qualify, so both teams who are going to play the final will be neutral teams. It’s going to be exciting. There’s no home advantage, no conditions advantage. You know India has played a lot of cricket in England over the last couple of years. Australia have also played a lot of cricket there. Sri Lanka and South Africa are also in the mix. They probably have played a lot of cricket there as well. It’s not going to be alien conditions as such,” Rohit Sharma said.
India’s Test squad for 3rd & 4th Test against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
WTC Final 2023: Greentop in Ahmedabad? Rohit Sharma calls GCA to prepare pitch similar to Oval for WTC preparation before IPL 2023, Follow LIVE Updates
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