New York. Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s arm injury is expected to heal before the match against Pakistan on Sunday, but the dangerous pitch of Nassau County with open cracks is a cause of concern for everyone before this match of the T20 World Cup, which is considered important for the promotion of cricket in America. Many veterans including former England captain Michael Vaughan have raised questions on the pitch. It is also being said that why some practice matches were not played on it before hosting the World Cup match.
During the match against Ireland, Rohit was hit by a ball from fast bowler Josh Little on the upper part of his right arm. He had to leave the field. Rishabh Pant was also hit by a bouncer on his left elbow. A BCCI source said, “Rohit’s injury is not serious. He himself has said that it is a minor wound. He will be fine by the match against Pakistan. Two practice sessions are also to be played before that.” The pitch brought here from Adelaide especially for the World Cup is being criticized a lot. India has to play two more matches in this stadium.
Irfan Pathan, who was the ‘Player of the Match’ in India’s T20 World Cup title win, called the pitch unsafe.
He said, “We want to promote cricket in America but this pitch is not safe for the players. If there was such a pitch in India, then no match would have been played there again for a long time.”
He said, “The pitch is not good. We are talking about the World Cup, not any bilateral series.” Former England captain Michael Vaughan said, “It is good to promote cricket in America but it is unacceptable to make the players play on such a pitch. You work very hard to play in the World Cup and then have to play on such a pitch.” Rohit is surprised by the nature of the pitch and admitted that he does not know what to expect from it in the match against Pakistan. India’s batting coach Vikram Rathod said that India has enough experience and skill to deal with it.
Rathore said, “We can control only that which is in our control. This is a challenging wicket and we expected the same because we played practice matches here.” He said, “We have to find a way to deal with it. There is no lack of skill in the team and there is enough experience. We will not have any problem.” The ICC has not yet made any statement regarding the criticism of the pitch. The Indian team management is not going to lodge any formal complaint but the displeasure over the pitch is obvious.
The source said, “This is a fresh pitch. There is grass on it but there are big cracks too. There should have been some practice matches on this kind of pitch before. This is not a T20 wicket and all the four pitches are like this.” He said, “Thankfully, Rohit or Rishabh Pant did not get seriously injured and they are fine.” Ireland’s Harry Tector had to undergo a concussion test after Jasprit Bumrah’s ball hit his helmet after passing through his gloves.
ICC’s rules are clear about the quality of the pitch. A review will be done after the tournament and if the pitch is bad, the overall rating will fall. Zimbabwe’s former captain and famous coach Andy Flower also criticized the pitch and said on ESPN Cricinfo’s Timeout show, “I must say that this pitch is not right for playing an international match.” Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said, “We have seen dangerous pitches at the international level before but here something went wrong in the preparation. The pitch was either not ready or there is something that is not in their control.”