India’s head coach, Rahul Dravid, doesn’t think that knowing the Barbados pitch well will give his team an edge. He spoke about this at a press conference before the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa. Dravid also doesn’t expect the final to be a high-scoring match. India played against Afghanistan in Barbados earlier in the tournament, but South Africa hasn’t played there yet. Even with this extra experience, Dravid feels that India isn’t at an advantage heading into the final.
The Indian team has been performing exceptionally well in the T20 World Cup 2024. India hasn’t lost a single match in the competition, just like South Africa. Dravid mentioned that India’s quick adaptability makes them unique, and they hope to continue this in the championship game.
“The fact that we played a game in Barbados is good. It’s good that we’re familiar with the field there since we’ve played on it before. But I think it’s difficult to… We won’t get the exact same field as last time. It could be different. And I believe what’s really important, and what we’ve done well as a team throughout this tournament, is that we’ve shown the ability to adjust and recognize what a good score is,” Rahul Dravid said during the press conference.
The Indian head coach, who is leading the team for the final time in this tournament, praised India’s skill in adjusting to difficult conditions. He mentioned that India has quickly figured out the right scores for each location they’ve played in and has managed to achieve high scores in all their matches.
“We played differently in New York compared to St. Lucia. Our first game in Barbados had a slow pitch. For the final, we’re not sure what to expect. I hope that whatever we face, we can recognize it and play accordingly, like we did in the last three games. Both Antigua and Saint Lucia had better batting conditions than here. But we scored above what we expected in those games. Here, the pitch is a bit slower and lower. It’s not a bad pitch though.”
India traveled to Barbados immediately following their semi-final match against England. They have decided to skip their practice session before the tournament final. Instead, India will take time to rest and recover before jumping right into the action on Saturday, June 29th.
