File image of India T20I captain Hardik Pandya© AFP
India captain Hardik Pandya on Sunday criticized the standard of pitches used in the ongoing series against New Zealand and termed the one prepared for the second T20 International as shocking. The ball turned in the first T20I in Ranchi and it was no different on Sunday when New Zealand were bundled out for 99 for eight. India chased down the target with just one ball to spare. Hardik said after the series-levelling win over New Zealand, “To be honest, this wicket was shocking. So far we have played both the matches. I don’t mind the difficult wickets.”
“I am all set for it, but these two wickets were not made for T20s. Somewhere the curator or the ground we are going to play, they should make sure they get the pitch ready first. Other than that, happy. Even 120 would have been a winning total,” he said.
The series decider will be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. “I was always confident that we would be able to finish the game but it took a while. All these games are important with moments. You don’t need to panic because it was about rotating the strike rather than taking pressure ” That’s exactly what we did. We followed our basics,” he said of the tense finish.
On the bowlers’ impressive performance, he said, “They stuck to their plans and made sure they (New Zealand) didn’t rotate the strike. We kept rotating the spinners. Dew didn’t play much of a part in it. They were able to spin.” . The ball was higher than us. It was moving well.” New Zealand captain Mitchell Santer said that 120 on the surface could have been a winning total.
“It was a brilliant game of cricket. A great effort from the bowlers to get it so close. If we’d got 10 or 15 extras, that could have made the difference. Peace to Surya and Hardik to get them.” The line was good.
Santner said, “We bowled 16 or 17 overs of spin, definitely something different. With the bounce, it looked challenging. You’re not sure what a good total is. 120 could be a good score.”
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