India captain Hardik Pandya was surprised at how the lunch pitch performed in Friday’s T20I series opener against New Zealand. The pitch provided sharp grip and spin for the slower bowlers throughout the game, and the dew factor didn’t affect the second innings much.India pursued 177, while New Zealand won the first game of the tour. , could only manage 9 to 155.
“I don’t think anyone expected this wicket to play like this,” Hardik told Star Sports in his post-match presentation. I think we played and that’s why the result ended like this. “In fact, the new ball spun more than the old ball. I think we were still in the game until we hit and obviously hit Wassey [Washington Thunder].] We finished the game and like I said it was a surprise wicket but They played cricket a little better than we did.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner echoed Hardyk’s thoughts on the course, perhaps because he found JSCA Stadium’s sharp-cut turf more supportive of the spinners in his second inning.
“I think it was a shock to everyone involved, how much we turned around in the second inning,” Santner said. “But it was a great match, and it was pretty close at the end. I’ve seen a lot of runs in the ODI series, so it’s nice to see the ball spin a little more [at T20Is].
Washington was not overly critical of the pitch, suggesting that the way it was played was just an anomaly. “I don’t think you have to deal with anything just because the rotation was big. This one-off game. A lot of things would have been different if we had gotten off to a better start. It’s obviously spinning, and you’ll see such portals here and there. Obviously people here and players on our team have played in gates like that, even the IPL and Indian teams. So in this one-off game of his, certain things went wrong and ultimately failed to cross the line. They were good bowlers, playing with three spinners, and even the sailors were bowling very well. “
Washington hopes all-rounder Darryl Mitchell has turned the game around as he recorded his 59-of-30 unbeaten run, including his 7(nb) 6 6 4 run in the final over. Did. Left-arm sailor Arshdeep Singh continued to miss the Yorkers by missing 27 from overs in New Zealand’s innings.
“Obviously Daryl’s innings were very important to them. Like I said, 150 innings would be on par and we would have been very happy with that, but yes, he actually He made the difference by scoring half a century himself. It’s only happened twice, and sometimes it’s 15 runs or more in three or four overs, and that’s the format.”