India are set to take on Pakistan in a hotly anticipated match of the 2024 T20 World Cup. But at the moment, the talk of the town is not about the fight or the match between the players, but the pitch at Nassau County International Stadium in New York that they will be playing in. India captain Rohit Sharma has been scathing about the New York pitch.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Sunday, Sharma said that even the pitch management had no idea what the pitch would be like. Both the Indian and Pakistani teams will be stepping into some unknown territory when they step into the stadium on Sunday as no one knows exactly what condition the ground and pitch will be in, especially with rain expected during the match.
This is expected to give a huge advantage to the bowlers at Nassau County Stadium and one may add that evidence from the last few matches held at the venue strongly suggests the same.
IND vs PAK: Preview
In the two matches played at this stadium, South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 77 runs and restricted the Netherlands to just 103 runs. South Africa’s pace bowlers have dominated the game, extracting a lot of bounce from their strong backward areas. Players like Marco Jansen have been swinging in the first few overs and really making things difficult for the batsmen.
In the only match India have played at this venue, Arshdeep Singh was virtually unstoppable for two overs in the powerplay.
Pakistan Pace Battery
Pakistan head coach Gary Kirsten was asked about his team’s fast bowlers in the pre-match press conference. He agreed that Pakistan expects a lot from their fast bowlers but knew it was important for the team to bowl at full strength. Players like Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi are lightning fast bowlers and can be a big threat to the batsmen if they have a little help.
King Bumrah to the rescue
Memories of Pakistan’s defeat to India in the ODI World Cup 2023 will still be fresh. In that match, Jasprit Bumrah was awarded the man of the match award despite Rohit Sharma’s 86 off 63 bats sealing the victory. Bumrah bowled a magical 7-1-19-2 run to thoroughly maul Pakistan in the first 20 overs.
Bumrah has been as dangerous as ever in the T20 World Cup and could be a game-changer this time around too, and along with Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and an in-form and in-form Hardik Pandya, India’s bowling unit could gain momentum against Pakistan, whose confidence is low following their defeat to the United States.
Pitch Mystery
The ICC had promised to make the New York pitch better after the India-Ireland match, and a glimpse of this was seen during South Africa’s match against the Netherlands, when South Africa were 4 for 12 in their second innings and could only manage 104 runs. The match is expected to be played on a new pitch and, according to Rohit Sharma, who knows what demons may emerge.
We can expect the India-Pakistan match to turn into a full-blown shootout between the bowlers in New York. And even if that happens, who cares? It is a shootout after all.
