Australia ‘ready for anything’ in final

MUMBAI – Australia are adamant they will be ‘ready for anything’ India throw at them in the Cricket World Cup final after controversy hit the tournament in a ‘pitch switch’ row.

India have been the form team of the World Cup, winning all 10 games on their way to today’s showpiece match in Ahmedabad.

But there was controversy in the leadup to their 70-run semifinal in over New Zealand in Mumbai after it emerged the game was being played on a Wankhede Stadium pitch already used twice before during the tournament rather than a freshly-prepared surface.

“No doubt playing on your own wicket in your own country has some advantages,” Australia captain Pat Cummins told a pre-match press conference yesterday. “But we’ve played a lot of cricket over here.”

“We’ll be ready in terms of anything they’ll throw at us...we’ll make sure we have some plans.”

The pitch will be the same surface as the one on which India cruised to a seven-wicket pool win over Pakistan last month, when they dismissed their arch-rivals for just 191 after winning the toss.

“My understanding is it’s going to be on the slower side,” said India captain Rohit Sharma later yesterday.

“But we have to assess what it is like tomorrow,” he added, pointing out that while there had been dew on the ground ahead of the Pakistan game, none appeared during the match itself.

WIN THE GAME

“That’s why I keep saying the toss is not going to be a factor, you’ve got to play well to win the game regardless of how well you know the conditions.”

A used pitch had no major bearing on the Mumbai semifinal, with more than 700 runs scored in the game.

Cummins, asked if he had already seen the pitch for the final, replied: “Yeah, just had a look. It looked pretty firm...I think Pakistan played someone there!”

Used pitches generally favour spinners, with slow bowling a key component of a five-man India attack where Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja are expected to bowl 20 of their 50 overs today.