Table of Contents
ICC T20 World Cup 2024: How the pitches going into play in the tournament?
The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 has already started and we have seen 4 games being completed in the tournament. Just after 4 games, the concerns over the pitches in the tournament are firing up as we are anticipating more and more slowish and sluggish pitches in West Indies, going forward into the tournament. In fact in US also, no one knows what’s going to happen regarding how the pitches behave there. Is it batting-friendly or bowling-friendly? Today, we will discuss all those things in detail with whatever little we have seen so far.
The buzz around the drop-in pitches in the US before the ICC T20 World Cup 2024
There is a lot of buzz around the drop-in pitches in the US. All the teams were keeping an eye on how the pitches going to play in the US. Generally, the nature of the drop-in pitches is a bit slower than the normal wickets. It’s not like teams can’t score 180+ or 200+, but it’s not easier on those kinds of pitches to play shots as compared to the flat decks.
The pitches in the US come from Adelaide, Australia. And we are anticipating a bit more help for the bowlers as compared to franchise cricket. Sri Lanka’s head coach, Chandika Hathurusinghe seeks for the data on US pitches before the start of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Pitches in the West Indies might be slower as compared to IPL
We have seen so much cricket in the West Indies over the years, and we have seen the nature of the surfaces as well. If we only talk about white-ball cricket, generally the pitches are on the slower side. In T20Is as well, the slow pitches brings the par scores down.
We might also see slow pitches in West Indies in the ICC T20 World Cup as well. The batters need to rethink their approach in batting and need to tinker with their strategy according to the conditions on offer in the tournament.
Glimpses of the pitches aren’t showing good pictures
Till now, only 4 games have been completed in the tournament. The US chased down a target of 195 against Canada quite easily at the end in Dallas, but after that, the scores are getting lesser game-by-game. Although it’s a very small sample size of 4 games, whatever glimpses we have seen till now aren’t showing good pictures.
West Indies played Papua New Guinea in Guyana in the 2nd game of the tournament. PNG scored 136 for 8 in their 20 overs. It was looking like WI would chase it down quite easily. But PNG made a match out of it before Rostan Chase and Andre Russell got WI over the line. At one stage, WI needed 40 runs in 4 overs and their 5 wickets were down. The ball wasn’t coming onto the bat easily as the wicket got slower and slower. With all due respect to PNG, any big team might have defended the target from that situation if they kept their nerves in control.
Still WI vs PNG game was a good one, but then comes the 3rd game of the tournament, Namibia vs Oman. Oman only managed to score 109 in the 1st inning. But with the surface being tricky and the approach of Namibia, the game ended with a tie. Namibia wins the Super Over.
Concerns over the pitch and the conditions in New York
South Africa played Sri Lanka in the first Group D game in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. And it has crossed all the limits regarding the talks on pitches. It was spongy, sticky, too-paced, sluggish, very tricky, had variable bounce and movement, and very difficult for stroke-making. The pitch has everything that a T20I pitch isn’t supposed to be.
Sri Lanka bowled out for just 77. SA used a short-pitch ball well, especially Anrich Nortje. Also, there was a movement on offer for pacers at the start. Keshav Maharaj, the only Proteas spinner played in this game, his ball wasn’t turning, but the nature of the surface didn’t allow SL batters to play the strokes freely.
Even SA struggles to chase down a target of 78. They lost 4 wickets and took 16.2 overs to complete the run-chase. Some balls took off and some kept low as well. Some batters took the body blows as well. It wasn’t an ideal pitch for a T20 game.
Rahul Dravid expressed his opinion on conditions in New York
Team India will also play three games in New York. After India’s warm-up game, Dravid was skeptical about the pitch in New York. He said it’s a ‘spongy pitch’ and also talked about the ‘soft ground’ in New York.
↻ This T20 World Cup: Get 75% Victory Bonus With BetVisa
Conclusion
The conclusion is if the pitches are like that in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, we will see more low-scoring games. Also, the question was whether the pitches would be batting-friendly or bowler’s friendly. So the answer is no, it can’t be batting-friendly if it is like what we have seen in the SA vs SL game. There should be a balance between bat and ball, but not overly in favor of bowlers like in New York.
FAQs:-
(1) How many venues are there in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024?
There are a total of 9 venues in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
(2) What will be the venue for the final in the tournament?
The final will happen in Barbados on June 29.
(3) How many teams will qualify for the next round of the tournament?
After the Group stage, two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 8 stage.
