India do not need to play pitch tricks – they are good enough to win World Cup without them

Right now, it does not matter what pitch India play on. I think they are so much better than every other team in this World Cup that they can play a 70 per cent-game and win, even if their opponents are at their absolute best.

The pitch situation before the semi-final did not sit right with me at all. The ICC should not allow that to happen: a World Cup knockout game should be on a fresh pitch. Equally, India just don’t need to get involved with that sort of business at the moment. They are too good for it.

It was an incident that reminded us of the power dynamics in the game. No-one bats an eyelid. The Indian board are in charge, and control the ICC. You cannot really blame the ICC, given how much of the viewership and sponsorship comes from India. You could argue that the future of one-day international cricket depends on an India win in the final on Sunday.

I would be extremely shocked if they do not get the win. They have a top five all in brilliant form, and their best ODI bowling attack by a country mile. Their attack in 2011 was good, but this one is something else. Every one of the five goes for wickets. Usually in one-day cricket you have a couple of attacking bowlers and the rest are holding bowlers. Mohammed Shami has been ridiculously good.

With the bat, Virat Kohli is in stupendous form and to score 50 ODI hundreds is extraordinary, and Shreyas Iyer has become a magnificent player. But for me, strangely, the underrated piece of the jigsaw is Rohit Sharma. I would go as far as to say he is my player of the tournament, and that has got nothing to do with his numbers.

I believe that without Rohit all this does not happen, and India do not get as good. He’s got the team playing selflessly, not for themselves. They do not work for their own numbers, it is purely for the team, with the bat and ball.

At the top of the order, he sets the tone with his pure aggression, providing a dominant platform. He hasn’t batted that long in this World Cup, but he’s scored so quickly, and intimidated all the teams they’ve played against. That hasn’t always been the way he has played, but he’s been showing his team-mates how to go about things.

I think Rohit intimidates opponents with the way he uses that bowling attack too, and the aggressive changes he makes.

His man management is brilliant. You can only imagine how difficult it must be to keep things level in Indian cricket, to calm everything down and keep players level. Under Rohit, the Indian players are so focused. They have barely done commercial work, they rarely give interviews. They are just thinking about the game.

The dynamic with Kohli is remarkable. Kohli was captain for such a long time, and the most famous player in the game. Someone at the BCCI then knocked on his door to say that he wouldn’t be the captain anymore. For Rohit to take that on and manage all the different facets so well, is superb.

In the semi-final, India just had their first little wobble in the field. They had not fielded that well and the bowling wasn’t quite on, giving away too many extras. Rohit brought the team together at drinks, and they turned it around. I have no idea what he said, but it worked.

India would be worthy World Cup winners if they could get over the line, but it’s not been a great tournament overall. There have just not been many close games. There have probably been four genuinely close games? In a 48-match tournament, that’s not enough. We’ve seen special moments, whether that’s Glenn Maxwell’s fastest World Cup hundred, his double-hundred, or Kohli’s 50th century, but there just hasn’t been that competitive edge of close games.

I am not sure why there haven’t been many close games, but it follows a trend I think we see in Test cricket these days, with teams not fighting back very often. I don’t know why, perhaps it’s because of the schedule, where there’s always another game coming thick and fast. I feel sorry for both the finalists, because four days after one of the biggest games of their careers, they are playing a T20i series against each other. England had the same thing in Australia last year. How can that be right? Why can’t board realise players deserve the opportunity to rest and celebrate after a gruelling seven-week World Cup. It’s pure greed.

Their never-say-die attitude is what makes New Zealand so refreshing – they never seem beaten. They showed that in the semi-final. Sadly, one of the things that characterised England’s tournament was that lack of fighting spirit which is something I think the players will regret in years to come.

Another thing about England is that they did not look that fit, which in a steaming hot country like India is so important. It lifts your fielding – just look at Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner’s performance in the first 20 overs of their semi-final against South Africa. Even at 37, Warner is fighting fit and it makes such a difference to his team.

Take also Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, and you are reminded that India are top of the class in that department too. That is just another reason why they are the best.