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A day after India beat Ireland in New York — MyKhel’s editor Avinash Sharma makes a surprise call from his office in Noida and says: “Hoping that the India-Pakistan match isn’t canceled due to an unfit pitch and ground conditions.” The pitch is so undulated that the ball is jumping around dangerously. Some of the deliveries are also keeping low and is double-paced.
The New York pitch has become a talking point and One India’s senior editor, Pankaj Mishra, who took it upon himself to name a cricket show for the ongoing T20 World Cup, didn’t hesitate to call it a ‘Pitch Battle’. The frenzy around the pitch in Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has reached such a stage that strong sentiments are being expressed everywhere.
What if one of our batter gets injured against a Pakistani bowler who is fast or vice-versa? Who will take responsibility of it? The International Cricket Council is tight-lipped. The world governing body knows it all, and cricket writers like Avinash have all the right to be worried.
If a similar situation had happened in Asia, the match could have been canceled. Who knows?
ICC has taken tough calls earlier. But since the initiative to stage a big game like the India-Pakistan in an untested venue in New York is a call of the top management, no one is willing to discuss the remedy.
Making a pitch for such a high-profile tournament isn’t child’s play. The ICC faced problems earlier in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, where the formalities were completed with low visibility. But nothing affected the ICC then. But the way the New York pitches have behaved has put them in a very embarrassing position.
Making a pitch means extensive work, and rolling a new pitch is most important. Different patterns of heavy rollers are used while checking the level and creating a slope. The ball isn’t turning here but the new ball is seaming around after pitching with invariable bounce. No wonder why India’s Kuldeep Yadav was left out of the XI while India went in with four fast bowlers, including vice-captain Hardik Pandya.
In simple words, New York has a dangerous pitch to play a high-profile contest like India versus Pakistan. How ready would be pitch on Sunday morning — when the entire world would be closely watching the pitch battle?
As the debate rages on why ICC delayed re-laying the pitch, the outfield is equally worse. The outfield is so heavy that the sand beneath isn’t settled. When the ball hits the outfield, a puff of dust comes out. Like the pitch, even the outfield isn’t properly rolled. Injuries can happen to any player at any time. Players are already complaining of their calf muscles becoming heavy while they struggle to run fast. The outfield should be smooth and fast. But New York isn’t offering that!
