T20 World Cup 2024: First look of New York pitch revealed: India's plan of 4 spinners gets backfired

Published - 16 May 2024, 02:14 PM | Updated - 16 May 2024, 02:35 PM

Babar Azam and Rohit Sharma
Babar Azam and Rohit Sharma(Image Credits: Twitter)

The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA) from June 1 to June 29. It will be the first time the United States of America will host an ICC World Cup tournament.

The T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, with venues in New York, Florida, and Dallas. The USA Cricket Association opted for drop-in pitches rather than constructing one from scratch due to a lack of time and resources.

The match between Pakistan and India is scheduled at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on June 9. New York will host a total of eight matches, including India's three matches. Installation of the ten pitches for the matches began earlier this month.

The 34,000-capacity venue will utilize infrastructure from the Las Vegas Formula 1 circuit. The ICC transformed a municipal park into a cricket facility. Other than the four center wickets, six extra pitches will be installed for team training and practice matches during the event.

A sports journalist took to the social media handle X (formerly known as Twitter) to share a photo of the pitch at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

We Can’t Say About Team Combinations - Harbhajan Singh

During a press conference organized by Star Sports, Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh raised concerns about the "drop-in pitches" during the T20 World Cup 2024. Singh suggested that team combinations should be decided after observing the pitch conditions in practice games.

“Pitches there [Nassau Cricket Stadium] are known to none to be honest. Even the pitch curators might not know how many times will this pitch last. How much heat would be there how much water has been put in? How much bounce would it offer?” Harbhajan said.

“Once those practice games are played there, then we will get to know how the pitch is acting. And then we can think about combinations. Prior knowing that, we can’t say about team combinations,” he added.

The upcoming ICC event will feature 20 nations and is scheduled from June 4 to 30. Teams will be grouped into four groups, each comprising five teams. The top two teams from each group will progress to the next stage of the tournament.

The eight remaining teams will be divided into two groups, each consisting of four teams. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals. The final match of the T20 World Cup will be played in Barbados on June 30.

India will commence their T20 World Cup journey against Ireland on June 5 in New York. The Men in Blue will face Pakistan in their next match. The Rohit Sharma-led team will face the USA and Canada in their last two group-stage matches on June 12 and 15, respectively.

Also read: RCB vs CSK: Virat Kohli to retire after IPL 2024? Indian legend's shocking admission

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Babar Azam Rohit Sharma India National Cricket Team Pakistan national cricket team ICC T20 World Cup 2024 IND vs PAK India vs Pakistan Budapest Cup T20