Hardik Pandya was also less than impressed by the Lucknow pitch curators, calling him a “shocker” at the post-match presentation party.
India and New Zealand put on a low-scoring thriller at Lucknow on Sunday, and despite batting first, New Zealand added only 99/8 in 20 overs. What looked like an easy chase as New Zealand held off the hosts turned out to be a tough one as they eventually finished the chase of 100 runs in one ball.
Hardik Pandya was less than impressed with the Lucknow pitch curators, calling the post-match presentation a “shock” at his party. In another comment, stand-in skipper Pandya said that 120 wins would be the total number of wins on this route, which helped Spinner.
Indian bowling coach Paras Mahmbrey expressed a similar view. “There was turf in the middle but no turf on either side of the pitch. Coming here yesterday I felt it was going to turn around and be a challenging wicket. It was nice to have control. 120-130 runs would have been really tough,” the bowling coach said at the post-game press conference.
With the exception of two, even pundits criticized the pitch, with former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir claiming that Quinton De cock would have watched the pitch had he not come to the IPL match. made the comment during comments for Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the series.
“If Quinton de cock sees this spot, he may not come to the IPL (although it is possible),” he was quoted in a Sportskeeda report.
Gambhir is a mentor to the IPL franchise He Lucknow Super Giants, and Quinton de Kock is one of his key players hired by them in the 2022 Mega Auctions. Lucknow had qualified for the playoffs in their debut season. The South African wicket-keeper batsman appeared in 15 games last season and scored his 508 runs, including his 140 unbeaten. Apart from that, he also met his three-and-a-half-century.