Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif's recent remarks of 'doctoring' the World Cup final pitch in Ahmedabad have reignited the row that had seemed to die down.
In an interview with Lallantop, Kaif stated that he was present for three days ahead of the ultimate game back in November and observed how the pitch was allegedly being curated to favour India.
'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 commented.
Admitting that India did 'a little too much', Kaif also revealed the reasons behind India trying to stay on top.
'The feeling was that Australia had Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc, so India wanted to give a slow pitch, and that was our mistake,' the former batter said.
But Cummins, the Australian skipper, had learned his lesson from Chennai that batting first is difficult on a slow pitch, said Kaif.
'Nobody fields first in a final but Cummins did. We messed up while doctoring the pitch,' he concluded.
After being unbeaten throughout the ODI World Cup in 2023, India were just a win away from reliving the 2011 glory.
But what was supposed to be the perfect culmination for the hosts turned out to be a nightmare as the Aussies clinched their sixth World Cup title.