Cricket
T20 World Cup: Even the curator is confused about the New York pitch, says Rohit Sharma
An unpredictable New York pitch may have riled quite a few teams already but India captain Rohit Sharma isn’t dwelling too much into it as long as everyone is “making good decisions” in the high-voltage T20 World Cup match against Pakistan on Sunday. “I think playing good cricket holds the key. We have spoken about what we need to do, what the game plan needs to be. I expect everyone to make good decisions, nothing changes for us,” said Rohit at Saturday’s press conference.
The drop-in pitch at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has received heavy flak for being inconsistent, so much so that even ICC has gone into damage control mode, promising remedial action. But the ground reality still seems different. “New York is not our home ground. We have played two matches here but we still don’t know much about its nature. It behaves differently on different days and even the curator is confused,” Rohit said.
Quite a few batters, including Rohit and Rishabh Pant have taken blows due to the inconsistent bounce of the pitch, but the India captain didn’t want to read much into it. “The blows don’t count for anything. You want to test yourself in these moments. It’s the World Cup so nothing can get bigger than this. The blows can be secondary, you need to put the team’s cause first,” he said. The outfield too hasn’t been quick. “We don’t know on which pitch we are playing (against Pakistan), so whoever plays better cricket will win the match. The outfield is also big, some shots don’t go through to the boundary. So running between the wickets is also important.”
Asked about playing Pakistan, who lost their first match against USA, he said the game is too unpredictable to be influenced by such results. “Last World Cup, Pakistan lost to Zimbabwe but ended up playing the final. On your day anyone can beat anyone,” he said. “Nothing has changed in the last seven months. We have played them in the Asia Cup, (ODI) World Cup and now. What’s more important for me is what I need to do in that one over, staying in that present. This is how I like to think. You can’t think too far ahead.”
The India captain also indicated Pant could continue batting at No.3. “I had watched Pant play the first few matches in the IPL and made up my mind. His counter-attacking skill will be helpful and it’s good to have a left-handed batter in a top-order with three right-handers. He has got an all-round game. Besides the openers, none of the other batting positions are fixed.”
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