A new day, a new team and a new venue. This is how it is going to be for Team India in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup as the Rohit Sharma-led side reaches its third destination in Ahmedabad. With an aim to play two games at Ahmedabad, if you know what it means, the Men in Blue will hope to keep emotions aside against Pakistan in what is going to be the biggest match of the tournament so far.
Both India and Pakistan have begun well with two wins each and the result of Saturday's match could really be a decider in how these two sides go ahead in the tournament. Coming from Delhi and Hyderabad respectively, both teams will like the the surface at Ahmedabad, which is generally good for batting. As it was on show in the IPL and in the tournament opener between England and New Zealand as well, the ball comes on nicely onto the bat and the batters will enjoy it at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Narendra Modi Stadium pitch report for India vs Afghanistan
Out of 11 pitches at the Narendra Modi Stadium, five are of black soil, five are a mixture of three soils and the remaining one is a mix of the first two types of surfaces. The ones used most are the black soil ones which produce bounce and swing and runs. The red soil ones which grip and turn which we saw in the 2021 series against England, are not used much since then. The surface used for the tournament opener, had a spongy bounce at the start as New Zealand bowlers got more aid than the English pacers in the evening as under lights, the wicket got flatter and flatter as the game went on.
The India-Pakistan game is likely to be played on a similar surface. In the IPL too it was seen that the surface remained batting-friendly for all nine games and it seems to be the case in the ongoing World Cup too. If India win the toss, they might elect to field first given how the surface gets better in the evening and if Pakistan win, they might opt to bat given their struggles while chasing against India, even though they are coming off a record chase against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad.
