(PTI Photo)
India head coach Rahul Dravid criticized the ICC for the practice facilities provided to the team for the T20 World Cup amidst the backlash against the New York pitch.
During India’s initial practice session last week ahead of their warm-up match against Bangladesh in New York, reports surfaced indicating dissatisfaction from the team management regarding the facilities at the practice venue, Cantiague Park. This venue is located approximately five miles away from the main venue, Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, where India is scheduled to play three of their four league matches in the T20 World Cup. On Sunday, amidst the widespread criticism of the New York pitch during the match between Sri Lanka and South Africa, India head coach Rahul Dravid criticized the ICC for the practice facilities provided to the team for the tournament.
“It’s a bit strange to be practicing in a park,” said Dravid ahead of India’s World Cup opener against Ireland on Wednesday. “Obviously at the World Cups you’d be in big stadiums or you’d be at cricket stadiums traditionally. But you know, we’re at a public park and practicing,” he added with a smile of sarcasm.
In the US leg of the T20 World Cup, the makeshift stadium in New York is set to host eight out of the total 16 matches. Damian Hough, the head curator of Adelaide Oval, who oversaw the preparation of the drop-in pitches, assured last month that they would deliver a high-quality playing surface. However, in the inaugural international match at the venue, only 157 runs were scored in 35.4 overs, with a run rate of just 4.4. Sri Lanka managed to post their lowest-ever T20I total of 77 runs in this match.
The pitch, marked by uneven bounce and a subpar outfield, faced criticism from pundits. Dravid was cognizant of the discussions surrounding the Sri Lanka-South Africa match and expressed hope that conditions would ameliorate with each subsequent game.
“Yeah, obviously it’s slightly different. It’s obviously exciting that it’s coming to a new country, it’s coming to a new place. (It) feels slightly different in terms of, I guess, typically the buzz that you have around these events, with cricket not being one of the major sports in this country. So you don’t feel that kind of buzz over here. But hopefully once our games start and a lot of the Indian fans do start coming in, you start seeing that similar kind of excitement.
“So things are certainly different from that perspective. But yeah, I think from a preparation perspective and from what we want to get out of it, I don’t think that’s changed, our preparation, our professionalism, the way we are trying to approach things. It’s pretty, pretty similar to what we would normally do.”
