Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed he was shell-shocked by Australia's decision to bowl first in the Cricket World Cup final on Sunday, but also praised Pat Cummins and selector George Bailey for reading the pitch at Ahmedabad perfectly. Australia outsmarted India on many fronts of the summit clash as they clinched their sixth World Cup final, beating the title favourites, who were on a 10-match winning spree, in the final played at the world's largest cricket stadium.
"Australia were practically outstanding in the final. I was shell-shocked to see their tactics. Australia has deceived me personally, as their history goes by, they say 'we are going to have a bat, mate!' after winning the toss in the big finals," Ashwin said in his latest YouTube video on Thursday.
"I was praying to the lord that Australia should do that, because many people do not understand that the soil in Ahmedabad was like Odisha's, as in, it played like how any soil taken from the eastern part of the country would play — if every pitch gets bounce until the knee, this would get bounce only up to the shin," he said.
"The bounce will be less, but the soil won't disintegrate because the clay does not release the moisture, but holds it," Ashwin added.
Ashwin explained why he was surprised by Australia's tactics, but also added that India becoming a 'cricket hub' of the world due to the number of bilateral series as well as the Indian Premier League gave the overseas players insights into pitches and conditions.
"I was checking out if the pitch was disintegrating at the mid innings and I met George Bailey, the chairman of selectors and asked 'why didn't you guys bat first like you always do after winning the toss?'," he said.
"For that he answered back, 'we have played IPL and bilateral series for a long time now, and in our experience, the red soil disintegrates, but the black soil gets better to bat on under the lights'," Ashwin said.
"Dew is not a big impact in red soil pictures, whereas black soil pitches are good turners in the afternoon, but in the night, the pitch solidifies into a paata wicket and plays as though it is made of concrete," he continued.
Ashwin said, "I was flabbergasted listening to that, seeing all the experience from IPL and the bilateral series and India becoming a central hub of world cricket. They can read the pitch perfectly," he said.