The first semi-final of the 2023 World Cup between India and New Zealand in Mumbai on Wednesday will be played on a used pitch that has already staged two games during the showpiece tournament.
Although there is no International Cricket Council rule stating knockout games must be played on fresh pitches, a brand new surface can be provided for showpiece games.
Both Britain’s Daily Mail and the ESPNCricinfo website reported the India-New Zealand semi-final was initially supposed to be played on pitch seven, the central strip at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
Meanwhile, “Changes to planned pitch rotations are common towards the end of an event of this length, and has already happened a couple of times,” the ICC told Cricbuzz on Wednesday.
Pitch seven was not used during the round-robin stage of the World Cup.
But instead the match is being played on pitch six, the surface used for South Africa’s 229-run win over England on October 21, and India’s 302-run victory over Sri Lanka on November 2.
A source quoted by ESPNcricinfo said this represented a deviation from the pre-tournament pitch allocation.
“6-8-6-8-7 was the planned rotation at Wankhede,” the source said. “6-8-6-8 is what has been used so far.”
According to the ICC’s tournament playing conditions, the relevant ground authority — in this case the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) – “is responsible for the selection and preparation of the pitch” before any given match”.
The ICC also have their own independent pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson.
The Daily Mail reported Atkinson had become frustrated by changes to pre-tournament plans.
They quoted a leaked email in which Atkinson speculated whether the pitch for Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad “will be the first ever ICC CWC final to have a pitch which has been specifically chosen and prepared to their stipulation at the request of the team management and/or the hierarchy of the home nation board”.
The winners of Wednesday’s match will face either Australia or South Africa, who play in Kolkata on Thursday, in the final.
Used pitches generally aid spinners, which could be a boon to an India side that has Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav as two of its frontline bowlers.
The ICC does not mandate that knockout games be played on a new pitch, with their regulations saying only: “It is expected that venues that are allocated the responsibility of hosting a match will present the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for that match.”
The semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in England were played on fresh pitches, but used pitches were provided for the semi-finals of last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
*With Agency Inputs
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Updated: 15 Nov 2023, 03:47 PM IST