India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, left the game hurt after hitting a half-century against Ireland in New York during their T20 World Cup opener. In the ninth over of the chase, he was hit on the upper arm by a delivery from Josh Little and walked off after hitting the next two balls for six. In incredibly tough batting circumstances, he had contributed 52 from 37 balls to India’s chase of 97.
After India’s eight-wicket triumph, Rohit admitted he was “just a little sore” at the post-match presentation. We weren’t entirely sure what to anticipate from the pitch, as I mentioned during the toss. Since it’s a new field, new location and drop-in pitch, we had no idea what it would be like to pay for a five-month-old pitch. We decided to bowl first because it was important about becoming acclimated to the circumstances. Even when we batted second, I don’t think the wicket calmed down. Overall, the bowlers were satisfied to receive those two points, which was quite significant.
In the eleventh over of the chase, Little also struck Rishabh Pant, on a pitch that presented the batsmen with multiple obstacles. Despite needing some physiotherapy, he carried on with his batting and finished unbeaten at 36 off 26 balls.
After Ireland was shot out for 96 after being placed into bat in New York, former Zimbabwean batsman and England head coach Andy Flower remarked that the pitch was “bordering on dangerous.”
“It is not a good surface to play an international match on, I must say. On ESPNcricinfo’s Timeout programme, Flower stated, “It’s almost risky. “You observed the ball bouncing back and forth over a distance. As a result, despite occasionally sliding low, in the main, it bounces abnormally high, hitting individuals on the thumb, gloves, and helmet and making life extremely unpleasant for any batsman.
“The Indian quicks were good enough to exploit it [the conditions], you’ve got to get that to them,” Flower stated. “They had a really straightforward strategy; all you had to do was strike the deck hard on a decent length. And it turned out to be incredibly difficult batting conditions for any team, much less a minor country like Ireland playing against the likes of India.”
According to former Indian hitter Sanjay Manjrekar, there was a problem with the pitch’s preparation.
“You have seen dangerous pitches before as well at the international level but something has gone wrong with the preparation where either the pitch has been under-prepared or something that is beyond their control,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo’s Timeout programme. “This seems more like something beyond their control, where they have put in a lot of work in trying to get the right surface in the Big Apple and all that. But I said couple of days back as well, what can they do to make this pitch better? I am sure it is not lack of effort. At the most what you can do is keep rolling that drop-in pitch but they have a problem in hand. Inherently, I think there is something wrong with the base of that surface.”
The batting struggle persisted in the June 3 match in New York between Sri Lanka and South Africa, despite the fact that the game was played on a different surface. South Africa won by six wickets in 16.2 overs after bowling out Sri Lanka for 77 in 19.1 overs.
“Maybe it is a case of, I mean it is a very strong statement, where it seems like the horse has been put before the cart,” Manjrekar stated. “You are aware of the thrill of playing cricket in New York. Florida has, in my opinion, done fairly well over the years. However, the pitch and overall conditions aren’t quite living up to the expectations when it comes to cricket in New York, which is regrettable.”
Former international cricket players have attacked the New York surface on social media. Though Wasim Jaffer thought it was a wonderful method to get the American fans “hooked on to Test cricket disguised as T20”, Michael Vaughan described the pitch as “sub-standard” and “shocking”.