"The pitch is there for all the teams" - Sunil Gavaskar slams theories on 'used' Wankhede pitch ahead of IND vs NZ 2023 World Cup semifinal

Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar is baffled to see so much talk about the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the crucial 2023 World Cup semifinal between India and New Zealand on Wednesday.

Several reports have been making the rounds about how the Indian team management has allegedly asked the curators to have a "used" pitch for the semifinals. The reports have claimed that the hosts wanted to give their spinners an advantage.

However, speaking to India Today, Sunil Gavaskar explained why the Wankhede pitch is expected to be on the drier side no matter which one is used. He said:

"The pitch is there for all the teams, so I don't think there should be too much discussion on what this pitch will do or not do. I do believe that this Indian team is perfectly capable of handling any kind of surface. Have seen that in the tournament so far.

"And if it's a drier pitch, which is likely to be the case simply because the rains have gone. So there is no hint of any moisture."

He further added:

"Yes, there might just be a little bit of spin, no question about it. But the Mumbai pitch is generally very good for batting, so I don't think there should be too much of an issue.

"With the kind of bowling that we have, bowlers who have bowled superbly, whether they are bowling first or second, I don't think the pitch would be too much of an issue at all."

---

Sunil Gavaskar takes a dig at journalists

Sunil Gavaskar claimed that the ones who made reports about India using the pitch to their advantage just wrote it to gain traction. He reckons that as far as the pitch is same for both teams, it shouldn't matter.

On this, Sunil Gavaskar stated:

"I think this is typically, you know, on the eve of the match when you have nothing to write about and then, you know, you try to say something because you want to fill in your columns, you want to talk about pitches and stuff like that.

"To me, it doesn't make a difference. If the pitch changes after the toss, they certainly have a conversation. But if the pitch is the same before the toss, I don't think any any noise should be made at all."

Given how the ball behaves under the lights at the Wankhede, any team that wins the toss would want to bat first and put up runs on the board.