Drop-In Pitch Analysis: Deadly for Pacers, Docile for Spinners in T20 World Cup
Discover how the drop-in pitches in New York for the T20 World Cup favor pacers with bounce and seam but offer little for spinners. Analysis by cricket experts on the unique challenges and strategies for teams.
India will play three games at the Nassau County Cricket stadium.
After the first game in New York, the much-talked-about drop-in pitches have revealed a strange and rather bizarre mix. The bounce and carry are distinctly present, along with some seam movement, and the long boundaries provide an additional advantage to the bowlers. This combination creates the perfect cocktail for the pacers. However, surprisingly enough, there is not much spin. Typically, balls that seam also tend to turn, but this was not the case here. Now, India has packed their squad with four spinners.
India’s Spinner Dilemma
One may not be totally wrong to recall what Rohit Sharma said about including four spinners. "I don't want to go into too much detail on it because I'm sure all the opposition captains will be listening to this. I'll give you a short answer: I definitely wanted four spinners. We played a lot of cricket there. We know what the conditions are like. The match starts at...10, 10:30. So, there is a little bit of a technical aspect involved in this."
So, have they got it wrong? Not necessarily. It might still make perfect sense. This squad wasn't selected for the group stage or even the Super Eight games; its aim is the semifinals and final. The selectors clearly expect the team to reach the knockouts, and why not, given their recent performances in ICC events? This squad is designed for the pitches in the West Indies, not in the USA.
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