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2 min readUpdated: Mar 8, 2026 02:11 PM IST
The loss to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad remains a talking point, especially due to the pre-match buildup regarding the pitch and the conditions. (Express Archive photo by Nirmal Harindaran)
Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has urged fans not to attach any mental baggage or superstition to cricket venues such as the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. He insisted that a ground should not become a “taboo” simply because of a past defeat.
The loss to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium remains a talking point, especially due to the pre-match buildup regarding the pitch and the conditions.
“You can lose a game at a venue and win the next one. What is there in this? We have won a lot of games in that stadium. Don’t make a stadium like this taboo,” Ashwin said on ‘Ash ki Baat’ while reflecting on the discussions around Ahmedabad ahead of the T20 World Cup final on Sunday.
However, the 39-year-old suggested that within the Indian dressing room, there is little interest in revisiting that narrative. “I don’t think it should come into the way. I am sure, after a point of time, that monkey on the back will be there. But now, I don’t think the team will be thinking on those lines,” the 106-Test veteran said.
Winning and losing are both part of the game. It shouldn’t be reduced to the venue, no stadium carries a curse or guarantee.
Ashwin on Ahmedabad stadium
— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) March 8, 2026
That long wait for a global trophy often became a talking point around big games, adding pressure whenever the team reached the later stages of a tournament. The former India off-spinner felt that the narrative around the team winning global events had changed. “We were saying that we hadn’t won an ICC trophy for 10 years,” he said. “In just a year or six months, we won two ICC trophies. So all these things change.”
He noted that the surface had already been used once during the tournament. “As far as I know, South Africa and Canada played one game on this pitch,” he said. “The same pitch is being used, and there will be bounce. There was pace in that wicket as well,” he added.
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