- India has been accused of making last-minute pitch changes in Mumbai
- Their captain, Rohit Sharma, has played down the significance of the move
- He was speaking after winning the toss and choosing to bat first in the semi-final
India captain Rohit Sharma has played down allegations that the hosts switched fields at the last minute for the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand to help their spinners.
Mail Sport announced on Tuesday that today’s match would be played on a pitch that had already been used twice in the tournament, despite an earlier agreement with the ICC that the match would be played on a new pitch.
It has been suggested that this could bring India’s world-class spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav more into play at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
However, after winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Sharma insisted it would be a ‘good throw’ for both sides.
“It looks a good pitch, a bit on the slower side, but whatever we do, we have to do it well,” he told Sky Sports pundit and former India head coach Ravi Shastri at the toss.
Rohit Sharma has downplayed the significance of Wednesday’s semi-final on a used pitch
Today’s semi-final will be played on a field that has already been used twice in the tournament
Sharma was speaking after winning the toss and choosing to bat first in Mumbai
“We have to perform on the day and be in control.”
His counterpart, Kane Williamson, confirmed that the match would be played on a used pitch and that he would have preferred to bat first, but refused to apologize ahead of the last four matches.
‘We also had a bat before. “It’s obviously a used surface but we’ll try to make use of it with the ball up first and hopefully some dew will come later,” he said.
New Zealand has its own world-class spinner in Mitchell Santner, who has taken 16 wickets during the World Cup group stages.
Former England captains Eoin Morgan and Nasser Hussain believe playing on a used pitch could actually get the Kiwis more into the game as conditions are less predictable than if they were playing on a new court.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson confirmed the match was played on a used pitch but refused to apologise
However, another ex-England skipper, Michael Vaughan, seemed to see things differently than he did tweeted a photo of a pitch with bare spots all over the wicket next to the caption ‘The World Cup semi-final pitch is all ready for use in Wankhede.. It should be a blast’ just before the match started.
India enter the match as clear favorites having won all nine group matches, while rarely being challenged by their opponents.
New Zealand had a much less easy path to the semi-finals, losing four of their nine matches, but they beat India at the same stage of the competition four years ago and will hope to repeat that feat today.
Both teams named unchanged sides from their final group matches, with India resisting the temptation to play an extra spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin.