IND vs NZ T20: The curator of Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium Pitch has been sacked after preparing a shocker of a pitch for the second T20 match against New Zealand. Although India won the match with one ball to spare in the second T20 on Sunday, captain Hardik Pandya described the Lucknow wicket as a shocker. India had restricted New Zealand to 99 for eight and it was difficult for India to chase down the small target on a turning track. The curator has been removed and replaced by Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal who is a very experienced curator. We will turn things around in a month.
Prior to the T20Is (Ind vs Nz T20) a lot of domestic cricket was played on all beach wickets and the curator should have left a strip or two for an international game. The surface was heavily used and in bad weather The reason was there was not enough (time) to prepare a new wicket. a source in the UPCA told PTI.
India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said that only curators can answer about the pitch made for the second T20 match (Ind vs Nz T20) against New Zealand. Indian captain Hardik Pandya on Pitch Condition has criticized the pitches made for this series. In Lucknow, the New Zealand team could only manage 99 runs for eight wickets and India was also able to win with one ball remaining.
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Paras Mhambrey said after the match, Only the pitch curator can answer the question about the pitch. We knew it would be challenging and thankfully we kept control of the match. He said, A score of 120,130 could have been challenging. We stopped them for 99 runs which was a score worth achieving.
He praised his bowlers. India dropped fast bowler Umran Malik to field Yuzvendra Chahal as an additional spinner. Chahal (Chahal vs Nz)) took one wicket for four runs in two overs. Mhambrey said, We felt that an additional spinner would be needed and that is why Chahal was kept. He bowled brilliantly.
Hardik said, 'To be honest, this pitch was shocking. We have played both the games on different pitches which is very good for us and I have no problem with it. Captain Hardik (Hardik Pandya on Pitch Curator) further said, 'I am fully prepared for this, but these wickets are not made for T20. Somewhere the curator or the ground where we are going to play, they should make sure that they prepare the pitch well in advance. Apart from this, I am happy that we have leveled the series by winning the second match.