The IPL 2022 season will begin on March 26 and will be held at four sites around Mumbai and Pune. This has raised the issue of the surfaces’ long-term viability — will they endure long enough?
The previous season in the UAE was a letdown for the passionate T20 fans, as the pitches barely held up and the average total in the matches was about 150. According to sources, the pitches will be ideal for T20 this time around.
“Each venue has five pitches,” says the narrator. This would guarantee that the pitches are cycled,” said Nadim Memom, a member of the MCA’s top council and the ground in charge of all three Mumbai venues, in an interview with TOI.
“This implies that a pitch will get a week off following the game, giving it ample time to be watered and rolled in preparation for the next match.” The second point to consider is that the wear and tear on the wicket in T20s is significantly less than in other forms. “Because the seamers only bowl a maximum of 12 overs, there isn’t much damage to the pitch from footmarks,” said Sudhir Naik, an ex-Wankhede curator.
In the IPL 2022 season, dew is unlikely to play a significant influence at Mumbai grounds.
Because of the dew, teams chose to chase every time they won the toss in the second phase of the IPL 2021 season and the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, both of which were hosted in the UAE. As a consequence, the teams who won the coin toss won the majority of the games. However, as Memom explains, this will not be the case in Mumbai.
“In Mumbai, the dew factor isn’t as high as it is in the UAE or North India.” The dew only appears after 9:30 p.m. here, and the super sopper can handle it. The second factor is that the UAE wickets’ clay is imported from Pakistan, which means that the bounce is low and the ball does not turn well.”
“The wickets in the current Australia-Pakistan series are as flat as they are in the United Arab Emirates.” The wickets in Mumbai and Pune, on the other hand, will provide interesting cricket. The grounds are in excellent condition. Last year, we successfully hosted ten IPL matches. This time, too, we’ll stage it successfully,” Memon continued.
CSK takes against KKR at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 26 to kick off the season.