Cricket World Cup final pitch controversy rears its head again as Pat Cummins makes complaint ahead of Australia’s clash with India

Pat Cummins has reportedly raised concerns about the condition of the pitch ahead of Australia’s Cricket World Cup final against India.

The topic of the pitch dominated the conversation in the semi-final earlier this week, with pundits and fans left unimpressed by India after their win over New Zealand was played on a used pitch.

And ahead of Australia’s big match against the home side on Sunday, Cummins was spotted paying close attention to the pitch in Ahmedabad, where he was joined by several teammates and officials.

According to The Age, he raised his concerns with ground staff during his inspection.

There are concerns among the Australian camp that the pitch is ‘rock hard’ in the middle but rough at both ends, suggesting some parts of the pitch have received more water than others.

The Australia captain expressed his concerns over the condition of the pitch in Ahmedabad

It means the spinners are likely to come into play for India as Australia chase their target score to win the competition.

Cummins insisted he was not surprised by the state of the pitch as he tries to silence a hostile home crowd on Sunday.

“(India) have certainly played very well this World Cup,” the Australian captain said.

‘I think that certainly wasn’t the case. I don’t think we scored par in that first game, but we are one catch away from potentially taking the lead in that game.

“We won an ODI series here early in the year. There are many moments we can draw from where we have had success against a very good Indian team.”

Their passionate fan base will work in India’s favor and staff the world’s largest cricket ground – the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which can accommodate 132,000 seated punters.

The crowd at India’s only other match there in the tournament, against Pakistan, was so one-sided that Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur commented that it ‘didn’t look like an ICC event, it looked like a BCCI event’.

Australia, however, has a better sense of the hostile conditions ahead than most other countries.

Of their 15-player World Cup squad, 13 have played in the Indian Premier League and since the start of 2019, India has hosted Australia for six white-ball series.

“At this scale, the crowds are probably larger than we would have experienced before, but it’s not something that’s completely foreign to what we’ve had before,” Cummins said.

Australia won the toss and opted to bowl against India on Sunday

‘The crowd will obviously be very one-sided, but also in sport there is nothing more satisfying than hearing a large crowd go silent and that is the goal for us tomorrow.

“You just have to embrace every part of it, every part of a final, even if you know there’s going to be a lot of noise and more people and interest in the lead-up and you just can’t get overwhelmed.

“You have to be ready for it, you have to love it and know that whatever happens, it’s fine, but you just want to end the day with no regrets.”