The New York Stadium’s pitch is a cause of worry for Team India |Courtesy-ICC
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- India will face Ireland in New York
- The pitch at the ground has come under the scanner
- The outfield is also a major source of concerned
The Indian cricket team will open their campaign in the 2024 T20 World Cup 2024 on Wednesday (June 5) in a group A clash against Ireland at the newly built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York in what will only be the second official T20I game at the venue.
For those unversed, the stadium is a temporary ground built for this tournament, whose construction started only in February this year. The venue will cease to exist after the mega event ends. This is the first time a major cricketing event is taking place in the United States of America (USA) and also a debut for New York with international cricket.
India vs Ireland T20 World Cup 2024 Pitch Report
With the ground untested before the competition, there has been major concern in the two matches played so far (including the warm-up) over the pitch and outfield. The outfield has proven to be extremely slow, which is making run-scoring difficult as the ball is stopping before the boundary, meaning it is proving tougher than usual for players to score boundaries. This will force batters to take the aerial attempt more seriously to take the ground out of the equation, which comes with an obvious risk.
Moreover, Indian coach Rahul Dravid stated that the nature of the outfield has put players at an injury risk with their hamstring and calves under risk.
As far as the pitch is concerned, the South Africa-Sri Lanka clash proved to be a nightmare for batters, with pacers benefiting from extra bounce. While Indian pacers, namely Jasprit Bumrah as well as Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya, will fancy their chance of troubling the opponent on this pitch, it is not a track on which the Indian batting unit will want to bat, as Ireland has quality fast bowlers in the form of Joshua Little, Mark Adair, Barry Mcarthy, and Curtis Campher.
Both coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma admitted that the New York pitch is one where a score of 140–150 could prove good enough.