India will kickstart its T20 World Cup 2024 jounrey with a Group A match against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Wednesday.
Rohit Sharma & Co. will be out on the venue for the second time, having played a warm-up match against Bangladesh on June 1. It will also play Pakistan and USA at the same ground.
Pitch report
The pitch at the venue has been under scrutiny for its sluggish nature. Only one official match has been played at Nassau, between Sri Lanka and South Africa, where the former was bundled out for just 77 runs. In reply, even South Africa struggled to score and completed the chase only in the 17th overs after losing four wickets.
Out of the nine wickets claimed by the bowlers in the match, seven went to pacers. Anrich Nortje was the standout for the Proteas, picking four for only seven runs.
During the warm-up match against Bangladesh, India’s batters sturggled to get going, scoring just 33 runs in the first five overs. It needed a 32-ball 53 from Rishabh Pant to up the ante. A rearguard from Hardik Pandya ensured India posted 182 runs in 20 overs.
However, Bangladesh could not work a way around the slow surface and ended at 122 in 20 overs, losing the game by 60 runs.
Another challenge for batters at the ground is the slow outfield. With the ball failing to breach the fence on grounded shots, the batters will tempted into taking the aerial route.
Who will do better – spinners or pacers?
The pitch at Nassau has offered assistance to both. South Africa pacers were able to strangulate the Lankan batters courtesy of the extra bounce off the surface and the swing.
But there was help for the tweakers too with the ball turning sharply and the odd ball keeping low.
Toss factor
The sample size for the Nassau ground is too small to derive a conclusion in terms of toss and the subsequent match results.
Wanindu Hasaranga had won the toss and opted to bat and the decision did not work his team’s way. After the match, Hasaranga had said, “To be honest this was a 120 wicket, especially with our bowlers. We went with our strength – our bowling, that’s why we batted first. We wanted to put a score and then defend.”
Even Aiden Markram said it was a tough pitch to bat on. Given the aid to bowlers, the captain winning the toss on Wednesday should opt to bowl.