The starting day of the World Test Championship is finally here. The Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team will take on the Pat Cummins-led Australian cricket team with an eye on its first ICC title in a decade. The match will be played at The Oval. Team India has played 14 Test matches at the venue, in which they have won two, lost three and drew seven of them. On the eve of the game, India star Dinesh Karthik, who will be commentating for the game, shared an image of the Oval pitch, the nature of which will ultimately decide the playing XI of the teams.
"The pitch is ready for the #WTCFinal! A little browner as the grass is 6mm today compared to 9mm yesterday. What would you choose if you win the toss?" Karthik wrote in a Twitter post.
"At this point dk can be our hero if he secretly cut those damn grass off at night w a lawn mower. Ye kya garden bna diya hai inhonen pitch k naam p" a Twitter user wrote on that post.
To which, Karthik replied: "The resume is already heavy with many roles"
Sachin Tendulkar believes that the Indian team would be quite happy to play at the Oval, London in the World Test Championship 2023 final, riding back on their impressive performance at the stadium.
"Whenever you have such memories they stay with you for quite some time and the Indian team would not have forgotten the last time they played there. They had a superb outing, won the game and like I said good memories stay with you for long. So I won't be surprised if the Indian team is happy that they are playing at the Oval," Sachin Tendulkar said in a video.
The 'Master Blaster' also shed light on the inclusion of two spinners, the most extensive debate circulating over the internet as well as among the former cricketers. According to him, the inclusion of spinners will turn out to be fruitful in the long run.
"The oval pitch is such that as time goes by, it assists spinners. So spinners will come into play a little bit, it need not be always a turning track as sometimes the spinners rely a lot on the bounce, and sometimes off the pitch, the little bit of zip that they also get the overhead conditions. It all depends on the shiny side of the ball, if they are able to get that drift, they can make the ball talk in the air without the pitch coming into play. So, Oval will be a good venue for India," Tendulkar added.
With ANI inputs