AHMEDABAD: Pitch talk has been a constant feature of India’s four-Test series against Australia and the trend continued on the eve of the final match in Ahmedabad which is likely to draw a record crowd here on Thursday.

After rank turners were rolled out for the first three matches of the series, curiosity abounded about the possible nature of the surface in Ahmedabad.

With the groundstaff yet to confirm which of the two prepared pitches would be used, Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith decided to delay naming their playing XI.

“We’ll have a look [at the pitch on Wednesday] and we’ll reassess, but it could be we name the team at the toss,” Smith told reporters on Wednesday.

Smith will lead Australia again in the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins who flew home after the second match in Delhi to be with his ailing mother in Sydney.

India retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy with back-to-back wins in Nagpur and Delhi but Smith says drawing the series would be no mean feat for his side.

“It’d be a huge achievement for the group, or any touring team that comes here to India and wins two Test matches,” Smith said.

Smith further said the pitch for the Test looks good for batsmen and different from the usual day-one turners in the previous matches in India.

“It’s just playing what’s in front of us really, obviously the scores haven’t been big throughout this whole series. India scored 400 in that first Test match and Rohit got 100 and 400 proved to be way too many,” Smith said.

“This wicket may be a little bit different. Perhaps it may not spin as much from the first ball or the first day but I do think it will spin as the game goes on. So yeah, there might be opportunities for bigger totals on this wicket.”

The largest attendance for a single day of Test cricket is 91,112 -- a record set during the fourth game between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the 2013-14 Ashes series.

That could be shattered on Thur­sday when Indian Prime Mini­ster Narendra Modi, after whom the 132,000 capacity stadium in Ahme­dabad is named, welcomes his Austr­alian counterpart Anthony Albanese.

India, who are 2-1 ahead in the series, would need to win the match to seal their place in the final of the World Test Championship in June against Australia.

Skipper Rohit Sharma played down pitch talks and said the team with better skills would prevail.

“How challenging the pitches are, how much is it turning, how much is it seaming...we are trying to keep all of that away,” Rohit told reporters.

“Conditions are there for us to play and you got to find your ways to score your runs on whatever pitches you play on.”

Spinners have ruled the roost in the series, especially in the third Test in Indore where India suffered two collapses en route to a nine-wicket loss.

“Not putting enough runs on the board in the first innings is probably what cost us the game,” Rohit said.

“It tells you that toss is not a factor at all in this series.

“You got bring out your best skills and play your best cricket to win the game.”

Meanwhile, Sharma angrily dismissed suggestions India had become overconfident in the third Test, calling the criticism from former head coach Ravi Shastri “absolutely rubbish”.

Shastri accused the team of “a little complacency, a little bit of overconfidence”.

Skipper Rohit hit back, saying: “Honestly, when you win two games and people on the outside feel that we are overconfident, it’s absolutely rubbish, because you want to do your best in all four games.”

He called his side “ruthless” more than arrogant.

“Ravi himself has been in this dressing room, he knows what sort of mindset we have,” said Rohit.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023