India Vs New Zealand – Was the pitch in Lucknow fit for a T20 match?

India beat New Zealand in a low scoring thriller but captain Hardik Pandya said that the pitch wasn't made for a T20 game
India Vs New Zealand

(Cricket news) After losing the first T20I convincingly, India came back and won a thrilling game in Lucknow by 6 wickets. The pitch looked like a turner hence India brought in Yuzvendra Chahal for Umran Malik meaning that they had 3 seamers and 4 spinners. New Zealand on the other hand went in with the same team.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat as the stats suggested that chasing is difficult in Lucknow. The pitch from the 2nd over itself had a lot of turn in it which immediately put the batters on the back foot. The rest of the game was not like a T20 game at all as the whole match didn’t include a single six.

Batting first, no New Zealand batter crossed the 20 run mark. Captain Mitchell Santner was the highest run scorer with 19 off 23 balls. The pitch was a proper rank turner and Indian spinners executed their plans really well. Arshdeep Singh came in to bowl just at the death and picked up two wickets. Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Deepak Hooda and Hardik Pandya all got a wicket each. Spinners bowled a total of 13 overs in the innings as it was next to take them on. New Zealand innings ended on 99/8 in 20 overs.

New Zealand bowled 17 overs of spin which is something that almost never happens in a T20 game. Suryakumar Yadav showed his ability to play in different conditions and situations as he led India to a win. SKY scored 26 off 31 balls as he won the player of the match award. Micheal Bracewell and Ish Sodhi picked up a wicket each while the other two were run outs. The match was a thrilling one which went right down to the wire. The series is now level on 1-1 and the match in Ahmedabad will be a decider.

Hardik Pandya after the game said that the wicket was a shocker and not fit for a T20 game. In T20s the odds are always in favour of the batters so something like this once in a while isn’t too bad. It was a thrilling game even though there were not many boundaries hit. If this was a regular occurrence than it would be a problem but once in a while it’s not too bad as it tests out the batters a lot. At the end of the day T20s are supposed to be entertaining and last night even though unusual was entertaining.

Also read: India women to take on West Indies in last group stage match of the tri series

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