New York's Nassau County International Cricket Stadium's drop-in pitch was discussed from the beginning. There were various criticisms about whether tournament matches like T20 World Cup should be organized on these wickets. Finally, that apprehension is turning into reality.
Monday night's Sri Lanka-South Africa match took place in the field of Nassau. In that match, both teams scored a total of 157 runs in 35.3 overs, with a total run rate of 4.23. Lately, even in Test cricket, such a run rate is not seen which was seen in the T20 format, and again in the World Cup match. With such slow wickets, former cricketers and analysts have come under fire from ICC.
Sri Lanka went into bat last night. After a batting collapse, they were all out for just 77 runs in 19.1 overs. In reply, the Proteas took 16.2 overs to score 80 runs. The wicket of the match did not look like anything from the start. Although the ball was bowled at a good length, many balls were jumping and getting unwanted bounce. As a result, runs become difficult for both sides.
The outfield of the match was also much slower than ideal. The speed of the ball itself was slowing down a lot. The most dangerous thing was that the fielding players were getting their knees stuck in the sand under the grass while diving. As a result, the risk of injury increased manifold.
Former South African captain Faf du Plessis said sarcastically on social media after seeing such a field, 'Wow! I see the wicket is quite 'spicy'!
Analyst Harsha Bhogle expressed doubts as to why the ICC World Cup is being organized here despite the condition of the field, whether the game can leave any impression on the audience. He said, 'It is doubtful whether it is a good thing to introduce cricket in a new country. You might want to solve it by putting a drop in pitch, but what about the outfield?'
India and Pakistan will face each other in this field on June 9. This match is the most exciting match in the world of cricket. Even on that day, if any such undesirable situation occurs on this wicket, then ICC will have to digest more criticism.