ICC vows to address New York pitch issues before India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match

The United States is hosting 16 of the 55 matches at the T20 World Cup, which is being co-hosted with the West Indies. A temporary stadium in New York was constructed at a cost of £24m ($32m) and was built inside of eight months. The tournament organizers were excited about the completion of the stadium. Six trays transported soil for the Tahoma grass surfaces from Australia to Florida, where the pitches were cultivated. The soil used has a high clay content, similar to the pitches in Adelaide. The pitches were then transported to New York and installed a few weeks before the tournament began.

The outfield in New York is made up of Kentucky bluegrass grown in New Jersey on top of sand. There was some dissatisfaction with the pitch after the opening matches, with teams able to reach their targets with deliveries to spare. The toss in New York became crucial in determining the outcome of matches, with the team bowling first seemingly having an advantage. Batters had to contend with uneven bounce from the pitch, with some balls climbing off a length while others skidded along at ankle height.

The sizes of the boundaries, 75m and 65m on each side and 71m straight, along with a slow outfield, have made run scoring difficult. The boundary ropes couldn’t be pulled in due to ICC tournament guidelines. As a result, the cricket seen in the games so far has been disappointing. Fans were even cheering runs for the opposing team in hopes of extending the game and seeing more of their own team bat. Concerns have also been raised about the pitches at the nearby net training facility in Cantiague Park. South Africa’s batters even chose to face throw downs instead of their own bowlers due to injury worries.