The pitch for the India-Ireland T20 World Cup match in New York has come under severe criticism following its oddly variable bounce and slow outfield.
The newly-constructed Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, the sport’s first-of-its-kind modular stadium, hasn’t had a great start as an international venue. Hosting only its second T20I on Wednesday, the pitch showed contrasting bounce at different times during Ireland’s innings.
During the powerplay, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj gathered steep bounce that reached wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s head height, but also had low-bouncing deliveries dying before they arrived to Pant.
Variable bounce, spicy snorters
Paul Stirling was undone by a sharply bouncing delivery that crept up from length and led to a top edge. Harry Tector was hit on the gloves by another Arshdeep delivery, and shook his fingers in pain. Later, he was dismissed by a Jasprit Bumrah delivery that darted into him, taking an inside edge onto his helmet on the way to the cover fielder.
The sharp bounce continued until the 16th over: when Arshdeep’s bouncer flew over Benjamin White’s head, he was no-balled for a second bouncer.
Shocking pitch … #IREvsIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 5, 2024
On commentary, Sunil Gavaskar noted: “You can see the bounce. The ball is climbing over the stumps. LBWs will be a little difficult.”
Ireland were reduced to 50-8, but managed to push themselves close to 100.
Rohit retires hurt
Later, Rohit Sharma was retired hurt, an over after he was hit on the shoulder by a Josh Little delivery. Rishabh Pant, too, copped a blow to his elbow after missing a shot off the same bowler. He needed a check from the physio before resuming.
Drop-in pitch
It’s important to note that the Nassau County pitch is a drop-in surface. Four main pitches and six drop-in surfaces were prepared in Florida and transported to New York for the T20 World Cup.
On commentary, Ravi Shastri noted that it takes drop-in pitches time to settle, and the curator has said the surfaces will only get better with time. Through the match, the commentators kept referring to the wicket as “tricky”.
Trying to sell the game in the states is great .. love it .. but for players to have to play on this sub standard surface in New York is unacceptable .. You work so hard to make it to the WC then have to play on this .. #INDvIRE
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 5, 2024
77 all out, 96 all out…
Ireland were dismissed for 96, the second consecutive sub-100 score in New York by a side batting first. Two days ago, Sri Lanka were shot out for 77 against South Africa.
The opening fixture of the venue was played on pitch No.1, while the India-Ireland match took place on pitch No.4.
The outfield also came under scanner, just like it did for the first game. Despite giving the grass a trim, the ball stopped in the outfield on more than one occasion, with puffs of sand visible when the ball ran along the carpet.
In their warm-up match here against Bangladesh, India scored 182-5.
After the SL vs SA match, Aiden Markram called it a tough batting surface: “The batting was a little up and down, speaks to quite a tough wicket but we found some way to score runs. It’s a tough one from a batting perspective. You try to take the pitch out of it, but if the ball misbehaves or there’s low bounce, it’s just one of those things and hopefully we can take some learnings out of it”.
This pitch in New York is very poor! #IREvsIND
— Mickey Arthur (@Mickeyarthurcr1) June 5, 2024
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What’s next?
The India-Pakistan match, arguably the most-anticipated clash of the tournament, will be held at the same venue on Sunday. Given how the pitches have acted so far, it might not be the high-scoring encounter fans are eagerly expecting.
This New York pitch is an embarrassment for the ICC….
— Paul Newman (@Paul_Newman66) June 5, 2024
Only once in an India-Pakistan men’s T20I has a team batting first been dismissed for a sub-100 score.
The venue is expected to be filled to its capacity of 34,000. The highest-priced ticket on the T20 World Cup site costs as high as $10,000.
There are five other matches scheduled at the venue over the next week, concluding with the India-USA fixture on June 12.
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