On November 19, India lost to Australia by six wickets in the ICC Cricket World Cup final. Australia’s victory in this match, played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, makes it the sixth time that this team has won the World Cup.
What was special about this entire World Cup was that Team India became everyone’s favorite team by achieving a great victory in every match up to the semi-finals. Before the final, everyone had accepted India as world champions, but in the final match, the Australian fielders and bowlers performed so amazingly that Team India was defeated in front of Australia. This defeat has not only disappointed more than a million Indian fans in the stadium, but there is also an atmosphere of sadness across the country.
The black surface of the pitch was also blamed as one of the reasons for Team India’s poor batting performance. In fact, the commentators kept repeating throughout the game that the players found it difficult to score runs due to the black ground. In this report, let us know what it meant in such a black earth situation that Team India were tied hand and foot.
To prepare a cricket pitch, a location is first selected where there is a space about 100 feet long and 10 feet wide in the middle of the pitch. The length of the playing field is always in a north-south direction. So that the sun’s rays do not fall into the batsman’s eyes during the game.
A pit approximately 33 cm deep is then dug on the designated soil. A drainage system is first prepared in this pit. For this purpose, a slope is prepared and a pipe is installed to drain the water. This means that when it rains, the water that has accumulated in the parking space can be easily removed.
The festival site is then prepared in three shifts. The first layer is 10 cm and contains river sand. The second layer is also 4 inches and is called the clay layer. In this layer, 90 percent sand and 10 percent clay powder are used. After that, the final and third layer is 5 inches thick. Red, black or yellow soil is used. This soil is called clay soil and when the soil reaches ground level, grass is planted in it. After the grass is planted, 1 inch of soil with a high clay content is applied to it.
The final match on November 19 was played on pitch number 5 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. This playing field consists of black earth. Before the final, a match between India and Pakistan was played on the same pitch. It is not that easy to score runs on this pitch as the ball stops on the black ground pitch. However, spinners have an advantage on this pitch when it comes to getting their turn.
In fact, black soil absorbs a lot of water and when the water absorption is high, the soil also swells. Black soil becomes very soft after watering and very hard after drying. When black soil dries, it reaches a high density. This means that this soil is similar to that in Australia.
According to experts, the thickness of Indian soil is about 2 microns while Australian soil is about 1 micron thick. With a size of 1 micron, black soil proves to be very helpful in bouncing the ball.
By the time the Australian team came to bat, the pitch was already flat. Due to the dew, the ball slipped from the hands of the Indian bowlers. The outfield also became faster than in the first innings.
There are 8 different soil types in India with different fertilizer capacity. These soils include alluvial soil, black soil, red and yellow soil, forest soil, desert soil, laterite soil, saline soil and peat soil.
Former Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram while talking to the pundit said, “This type of pitch was not seen anywhere during the entire tournament.” India’s assumption about the pitch was completely wrong. However, due to low scoring during the game, the Indian bowlers were under pressure. On the other hand, Australia had scored 30 runs in the first two overs themselves.
He said that this black ground pitch was very dry but became slow after 50 overs. During this period, Australia bowled entirely according to strategy. The team also paid full attention to fielding. India lost 30-35 runs due to Australia’s effort. Wherever the ball went, Australian players were present.
At the start of the game, the Australian team won the toss and took full advantage of this opportunity to make Team India bat. At the same time, bowler and team captain Pat Cummins greatly troubled the Indian batsmen by bowling cutters one after the other.
In the last few overs, known as death overs, Joss Hazlewood and Cummins did not allow the opposition team to increase the run rate by bowling slower balls and cutters.
Team Australia’s operational behavior was also an important factor in India’s defeat and Australia’s victory. Australia were so excellent at fielding, Rohit Sharma’s catch taken by Travis Head while fielding on Maxwell’s ball was a miracle. This was perhaps the first match of the 2023 World Cup in which only one four was hit in 24 overs.
In the World Cup final, India scored 240 runs after completing 50 overs and Australia was given a target of 241 runs to win. KL Rahul scored the most runs in this match, scoring 66 runs in 107 balls. Virat Kohli also scored a half-century in the last match and scored 54 runs. For Australia, however, Mitchell Starc took a maximum of three wickets.
Playing in front of your own crowd often becomes a burden for the team. During this game, there were many big guests on the field, including the country’s Prime Minister. That being said, with the expectations and noise of 1.25 million viewers, players sometimes think more about the results than the game.
On the other hand, the Indian team’s performance in this World Cup had raised the expectations of the country. Whether intentional or not, pressure arises. While the Australian team plays the game like a game. There is no pressure on them in terms of winning and losing like there is in India.