former indian spinner Harbhajan Singh Denying suggestions that the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad has spelled doom for the Indian team, he stressed that the outcome of the match depends entirely on the performance of the players on the day. After India’s loss, the controversy over the venue intensified. australian national cricket team in the 2023 finals cricket world cup In the same stadium. Harbhajan, however, insisted that the defeat had nothing to do with the surface itself but simply because Australia played better cricket in that match.
“When two good teams play against each other, one of them is obviously going to lose. When India played Australia (in 2023), Australia was the better team on that day. In this game, we saw that if you step forward with your right foot from the first ball, you will get the result. Whatever people used to think of this pitch as ‘panauti’ (unlucky) or whatever I heard on social media, that’s gone now.” Harbhajan also pointed out that similar sentiments were held about another iconic venue, Eden Gardens in Kolkata, before the result was eventually reversed. “A lot of people also talk about Eden Gardens. Eden Gardens didn’t have the best record, but somewhere it changed. Fortunately, in our time, we managed to do that. A lot of people also talk about this Ahmedabad Stadium – if the match was played there, India might have lost. But it has nothing to do with the cricketer or the result. It’s the mentality of people who have never played cricket,” Harbhajan told India Today. His comments follow similar sentiments expressed by other non-spinners Ravichandran AshwinHe also urged fans not to view the Ahmedabad venue as a jinx ahead of India’s final match against the New Zealand national cricket team in the International Cricket Federation Men’s T20 World Cup. “You can lose a game at a venue and then win the next. What’s the use of that? We won a lot of games at that stadium. Don’t let the stadium become such a taboo,” Ashwin said on his show Ash ki Baat while discussing the talk surrounding the venue ahead of the title clash. The veteran spinner, who played 106 Test matches for India, added that the current Indian team will not be distracted by such a narrative. “I don’t think it should be a hindrance. I’m sure that after some time, the monkey at the back will be there. But right now, I don’t think the team is thinking about these issues,” he added.
