Ahmedabad to offer black-red soil pitch in T20 WC final:IND vs NZ match to get batting-friendly surface; less spin, more pace and bounce

The T20 World Cup final between India and New Zealand will be played on a batting-friendly pitch. A fresh pitch will be used at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, where only one match was played in the tournament. The pitch has been prepared by mixing black and red soil. While there will be very little spin, pace and bounce will be available. However, this is expected to benefit the batters. Second semifinal also had pitch similar to Ahmedabad
The first semifinal of the World Cup was played between New Zealand and South Africa in Kolkata. While the pitch was batting-friendly, bowlers also got help in the first innings. South Africa could only score 169 runs, New Zealand achieved the target in 12.5 overs with the loss of just 1 wicket. The second semifinal was played between India and England at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. The pitch here remained very easy for batting in both innings. After losing the toss, Team India batted first and scored 253 runs. England also did not give up and scored 246 runs while coming close to India’s total. 499 runs were scored in the 40-over match. Now in the final, a very similar pitch is expected. Black and red soil mixed in Narendra Modi Stadium
In Ahmedabad, black and red soil was mixed to prepare the pitch for the final. A similar pitch was used during the semifinal at Wankhede Stadium. Now in the final too, there will be less help for spinners, pacers will get good bounce, but this will make batting much easier. Teams will need to score more than 200 runs in the first innings. Only one match played on final pitch
The final pitch will remain almost fresh, as the tournament’s only match was played here about a month ago on February 9. Batting first, South Africa scored 213 runs losing only 4 wickets. In response, Canada could only make 156 runs. Even after the Canada-Africa match in Ahmedabad, 5 matches were played, but the final pitch was not used in any of them. However, 200 runs were also scored on those pitches. The average first innings score was 184. Teams batting first won 2 times and teams bowling first also won 2 times. While one result came in the super over. India has played 2 matches at Motera Stadium in T20 WC 2026
India has played 2 matches at the Ahmedabad ground in the tournament. In the group stage, batting first against Netherlands, Team India scored 193 runs. However, the Dutch team showed fight and reached 176. In the Super-8 stage, India faced South Africa again. Batting first, the Proteas team scored 187 runs. In response, Team India could only make 111 runs. On the other hand, New Zealand will play only their second match here, they also lost to South Africa. Team India’s practice on Saturday
Team India will practice in Ahmedabad today itself. On the other hand, after winning the semifinal on Wednesday, the New Zealand team arrived at Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday. The team practiced the same day. India and New Zealand are facing each other in the final of consecutive ICC white ball tournaments. Just last year on March 9, India defeated New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final.