Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned the quality of the pitch and outfield on offer at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
The newly built stadium hosted its first international match when Sri Lanka played South Africa at the venue on June 3. Before that, India and Bangladesh had met at the same venue for a warm-up game.
While the warm-up match saw India post a decent total of 182-5 in their 20 overs, the next three innings at the venue had run rates of 6.10, 4.01, and 4.89 respectively, with Bangladesh making 122-9, Sri Lanka getting bowled out for 77, and South Africa taking 16.2 overs to chase the target.
Nassau County Stadium pitch and outfield under the scanner
Several pundits have since questioned the surface and whether it is fit for T20 cricket. After the Sri Lanka-South Africa game, the Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said that he felt it was a "120 wicket": “Our batters tried for 160-170. To be honest this was a 120 wicket, especially with our bowlers."
Manjrekar, speaking on the ESPNCricinfo show TimeOut, said that the New York venue is going to be a bit of a problem for the ICC as not much can be done to change the nature of the pitch since it's a drop-in wicket.
“I see a problem here for the ICC, because how are you going to change the pitch?" Manjrekar said. "It’s not like it’s underprepared. They have put in a lot of effort to make it an international standard. A good, fair T20 pitch. Maybe they could just keep rolling that pitch down and try and get it as firm as possible."
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Along with the playing surface, which behaved inconsistently, not allowing batters to play shots freely and showing signs of variable bounce on occasions, the outfield of the Nassau County Stadium has also been under the scanner due to its sand-based nature.
“The outfield is another concern. It was amazing that David Miller hit that grounded shot for four. Instead of four, if you’re getting one or two, that’s gonna keep the score down. The pitch has its trickery. So, it’s going to be tough. I don’t see it changing dramatically,” Manjrekar added.
“Maybe the pitch will get a little better, but the outfield is going to be a problem. It’s a very, very slow outfield, and you can see that every time that ball pitches into the outfield, the sand sort of bursts through. So, there’s a lot of sand base there. So yeah, I think there is some work for the ICC to do.”
New York is scheduled to host eight games at the 2024 T20 World Cup, of which only one has been played so far. The next game at the venue is between India and Ireland on June 5. The marquee India-Pakistan clash is also scheduled at this venue, for June 9.
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