In an interesting turn of events, the ICC has prepared two separate pitches for the WTC Final 2023 between India and Australia. The match will kick-start on Wednesday at The Oval Stadium in London.
However, a concerning factor for the ICC and the two teams that has emerged recently is the threats from a group of protesters in London. There is a concern around the WTC Final because of the Just Stop Oil protesters near The Oval. This group had already made an interruption to Australia’s team bus on Monday and had to be cleared by the police.
The ICC is fearing that this Just Stop Oil protesters group could come onto the ground and disrupt the match and even destroy or tamper the pitch that the teams will be playing on.
In order to have a second pitch to play on if the first surface is tampered with, the ICC has prepared a reserve pitch as well for the WTC Final.
If the pitch is damaged by these protesters, the ICC experts will assess it and see if it can be repaired and match be resumed on the initial surface. In case it is beyond repair, the reserve pitch will be used, and the match will be shifted on it.
Both team captains Rohit Sharma and Pat Cummins have been briefed about this situation, and both have agreed to shift from one pitch to the reserve pitch if the protesters destroy it.
“It’s something we got in the security briefing a couple days ago,” Cummins said. “I’ve heard that they’re aware of it and kind of keep an eye out. But that’s as much as we’ve heard. So hopefully, it doesn’t happen, obviously. But yeah, I’ve heard there’s a few different events that have been affected.”
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, and Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper).
Australia: Pat Cummins (Captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wicket-keeper), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wicket-keeper), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (Vice Captain), Mitchell Starc, and David Warner.
