'I saw the pitch...': Mohammed Kaif's big claim on India's 2023 World Cup defeat against Australia

Former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif has claimed that the pitch for the ODI World Cup Final at Narendra Modi Stadium was changed to help India. He said this in an interview with Lallantop. Kaif thinks that the pitch was made slower by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to favor the Indian team.

'I was there for three days. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid inspected the pitch every day for 3 days ahead of the final. They stood beside the pitch for an hour every day. I saw the pitch change its colour. There was no watering the pitch, no grass on the track. India wanted to give Australia a slow track. This is the truth, even if people don't want to believe it,' Kaif revealed.

'The feeling was that Australia had Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc, so India wanted to give a slow pitch, and that was our mistake. No matter how much people say that curators make the pitch and we don’t interfere. It is all nonsense. When you are moving around the pitch - you have to say just two lines - please don't put water, just reduce the grass. This happens. That is truth. And it should be done. You are playing at home. And we did it a little too much,' Kaif added.

In the final match on November 19, India lost to Australia by 6 wickets. India batted first but only scored 240 runs. Australia chased down this target in 43 overs, mainly because of Travis Head's impressive century.

Kaif believes that India's plan failed, and Australia, led by Pat Cummins, took advantage of it. He thinks Cummins learned from their previous match and used that knowledge well.

These claims by Kaif came after ICC's pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson, left before the final. There were rumors that his departure was because of disagreements with the BCCI about the pitch. Kaif suggested that Cummins understood from their earlier match in Chennai that batting was tough in slow conditions, so he chose to field first, which is unusual in a final match.

During the World Cup, the BCCI didn't say much about Atkinson leaving. They only mentioned that his contract had ended. There were previous tensions between Atkinson and the BCCI, especially when Atkinson accused India of changing the pitch type for a semi-final match against New Zealand. However, the ICC clarified that there's no rule saying knockout matches must be played on fresh pitches.

After the tournament, the ICC rated the pitch at Narendra Modi Stadium as average. This whole situation has sparked controversy and raised questions about the fairness of pitch preparation in cricket matches.