NEW DELHI: The pitches in the USA and the West Indies for the
T20 World Cup
have been under scrutiny ever since the tournament started.
Questions were raised at the relaid pitch at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on which India played all their three games.
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Though India won all their matches, their scores were 97/2, 119 and 111/3.
A high-innings score caters well to T20 cricket with the ball coming nicely on to the bat and flying off the blades of the hard-hitting batters.
The Nassau pitch was dual paced and the ball stopped while coming off the bat. In fact both
Rohit Sharma
and
Rishabh Pant
sustained injuries in the match against Ireland.
The
Brian Lara Stadium
at
Tarouba
in Trinidad hosted its second match on Thursday in which
Afghanistan
defeated
Papua New Guinea
by 7 wickets to reach the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
It was another low-scoring game as PNG were bundled out for just 95 runs in 19.5 overs and in reply, Afghanistan got off to a bad start before reaching their target in 15.1 overs.
Fazalhaq Farooqi
took 3/16 as PNG were 17/4 at one stage.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra raised his concern at the nature of the pitch at Tarouba.
"The pitch at NY has been the source of a lot of discussion…but what's happening at Tarouba? Not an ideal surface for T20 cricket again. Too many deliveries skidding along the surface. Anyway, well done, Afghanistan," Chopra posted on X.
The previous match at the venue - between New Zealand and West Indies - was also not a high-scoring one as the Kiwis failed to chase down a 150-run target, losing by 13 runs.
The Brian Lara Stadium is scheduled to host three matches in the tournament and only time will tell whether they will be high-scoring games or bowlers will again call the shots depending on the nature of the surface.
English (US) ·