Stand-in captain Hardik Pandya was outspoken about the first two T20I slots against New Zealand. India came home with just one ball at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow to take the series his equalizer victory despite chasing just 99 on wickets that were very hard to bat. In fact, in the game he hit 39.5 overs and he didn’t have a single 6.
“It was a wicket shock, to be honest,” Pandya said in his post-match presentation. “Both games I’ve played. I have nothing against hard gates. Agreed, but these two gates of his were not made for his T20. At some point, the curators or grounds we plan to play on should make sure to prepare the pitches in advance.
“Here we would have won 120 wins in aggregate. Tau was not very important. It was a shock at the ticket gate. Even the fast bowler got the ball flying,” he added.
The team scored 176 and 155 in his first T20I, but Pandya expressed surprise at the nature of the lunch pitch. rope. Lucknow’s surface, by contrast, did not affect the Impact Index much, but in the second innings he offered more for the spinner, who scored 30 overs. Of which he had 17 bowled by New Zealand, whose maximum of five bowlers sent spin-downs. India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said after the game, “When I first saw the wicket, I knew it was on the drier side.” There was no grass on either end.When I came in yesterday it looked like it was spinning.It was going to be a challenging wicket, we knew it.It’s not that hard think. Why I think you need to ask curators why they couldn’t [prepare a better pitch]. Was it time I don’t know…
“We knew it was going to be a big challenge and fortunately we are happy to have the game under control. Anything over 120 or 130 would have been very difficult, I think.Limiting it to 99 and setting a reasonable goal worked.
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner agreed with Mhambrey that another 15-20 runs on the board might have been enough for victory, but he was there to defend the lunch course. There was a milder view from the Washington sundar, calling it “unique”. .
“A couple of 10-11 games like that are going to be great, and it’s a skill in how much you spin and get through the game,” he said. All teams have fast bowlers and spinners. It’s exciting and everyone is happy that we won the match. We were all nervous, and I think everyone in the stadium was nervous, not just the TV audience…”