Curators at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow have been let go of their jobs after preparing a “shocking pitch” for the second T20I against New Zealand.
Skipper Hardik Pandya was outspoken, calling Lucknow’s wicket a ‘shocker’, even though India ended Sunday’s match by one ball.
New Zealand was limited to her 8-for-99 and India struggled to chase a small target in his stretch of the turn.
“The curator was dismissed and replaced by a very experienced curator, Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal. “Before T20I there had already been a lot of domestic cricket played on all intermediate wickets, so the curators should have left one or two streaks for international matches. Due to the bad weather, we didn’t have enough (time) to prepare the new wicket,” a UPCA source told PTI.
Agarwal, who has prepared pitches for Bangladesh in the past before being sacked last October, has been tasked with sorting things out regarding pitch preparations. According to sources, he plans to work closely with veteran BCCI curator Taposh, who will work closely with Chatterjee.
The T20I series decider will be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Hardik was not happy with the surfaces previously offered in the series.
“To be honest, it was a wicket shock. I’ve played both games so far. I have nothing against difficult gates. I agree, but these two gates are for T20.” It was not created in At some point the curators or the grounds we play on should try to get the pitch ready early,” said Hardik after the six-wicket win at Lucknow.