India vs Pakistan: India captain Rohit Sharma has slammed the New York pitch ahead of their marquee clash against Pakistan. Sharma has said that he spoke to the curators, who themselves had no clue how the pitch would behave on match-day.
Rohit Sharma retires hurt after shoulder injury scare in Ireland clash. Courtesy: PTI
New York,UPDATED: Jun 8, 2024 22:09 IST
India captain Rohit Sharma has slammed New York's Nassau County pitch ahead of the marquee clash against Pakistan on June 9. India will face their arch-rivals in their second match group-stage match in the T20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday. The New York pitch has been under scanner for being friendly to fast bowlers, where scoring runs has looked incredibly difficult.
India captain Rohit Sharma, while speaking in the pre-match press conference has revealed that he spoke to the pitch curators, who themselves had no clue about how the drop-in pitch would behave on match day.
“We have no clue which pitch we will play our game on. We spoke to the curators and they were themselves confused as to how each strip would behave, just imagine how confused we would be considering we come from a country where we aren’t too familiar with drop-in pitches.” Rohit Sharma said at the press conference ahead of the match in New York.
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Sharma spoke about the characteristics of the pitch on Saturday 8 June and said that he did not feel that effortless shot-making was possible in the Nassau County International Stadium.
"In this New York pitch, you don't feel that you can just go and play freely or swing your bat the way you do, uh, in the other venues. So yeah, you got to be mindful. That's where I think. I want to use my experience and play," Sharma said.
ICC'S CLARIFICATION ON NEW YORK PITCH
The International Cricket Council have already released a statement accepting that New York's Nassau County Stadium pitch is not up to the standard for T20 World Cup 2024. After massive criticism from fans and experts, the ICC on Thursday, June 6, said that they are trying to rectify the issues and trying to provide a better surface before the India vs Pakistan game.
PACERS' PARADISE
Fast bowlers have enjoyed the conditions at the Nassau County Stadium, especially with the new ball. South Africa restricted Sri Lanka for 77 runs and then the Netherlands for just 103/9 in their first two matches. South Africa themselves found it difficult to score runs in the pitch, first chasing down the target against Sri Lanka in 16.2 overs, and then struggling with the bat early in the powerplay against the Netherlands.
India on the other hand bowled out Ireland for just 96 runs in their first match, and then chased the target down in 12.2 overs.
Published By:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published On:
Jun 8, 2024
English (US) ·