Why India Lost World Cup Final Against Australia? Here's What Rahul Dravid Says

Team India's head coach Rahul Dravid on Saturday blamed the slow pitch of Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi stadium for India's defeat in the ICC World Cup 2023 final match against Australia.

According to the reports, the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, Vice President Rajeev Shukla, and Treasurer Ashish Shelar had called a meeting with head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma to review the team's World Cup performance. Rohit, who is in London on a vacation after a long-tiring world championship, attended the meet online.

Dravid blames pitch:

In the meeting, when the BCCI officials asked Rahul Dravid about the reasons behind the team's loss, Rahul Dravid blamed the Narendra Modi stadium's slow pitch for the team's bad performance. Notably, this was the same pitch India had outclassed Pakistan but failed to set a show versus Australia when needed. The head coach stated that the black soil pitch did not exhibit as expected. The amount of turn and help Indian spinners were seeking from the pitch was missing, leading to a failure to strangle the Kangaroos.

Why an old pitch was used for the World Cup finals?

According to the reports, a local curator's advice influenced the decision to play finals against Australia on an old pitch. Usually, fresh pitches are advisable for the knockout matches, but here Indian match officials did something different and unnecessary. The curator's idea was to make a spinner-friendly pitch, so he watered the 22-yard track very little, the idea backfired, and came out as a slow surface, especially in the first half.

Despite a 10-match winning streak, India lost to Australia by 5 wickets in the ICC World Cup 2023 finals.