ICC remain adamant on New York despite India pitch fears

The ICC remains committed to hosting T20 World Cup matches in New York despite concerns over substandard pitches at the pop-up Nassau County stadium, dismissing contingency plans to shift games elsewhere.

No change in schedule for the T20 World Cup fixtures has been planned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) despite the growing problem of substandard pitches that has been evidenced at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. 

Increasing concerns are arising about the venue’s play-making capabilities after the first two low-scoring games. ; On Monday Sri Lanka was bundled out for 77 by South Africa, while India made a match of it by bowling out Ireland for 96 on Wednesday.

India has said off the record that they are not happy with the fluctuating bounce and variable pace of the wickets; they have expressed concern for the safety of their batters before the high-profile match against Pakistan on Sunday. It is anticipated that for that prominent match, the assembly will accommodate 32,000 people at most. 

But ICC officials insisted that there are no backup arrangements to move the games to stadiums with natural grass playing surfaces in Florida and Texas. An unused pitch has been kept aside for the India-Pakistan match and that may also depend on how the wickets have behaved earlier.

The problems are rooted in the Tahoma grass pitches of the $32 million pop-up stadium that was put up in New York weeks ago; the pitches were grown in Australia and transported to Florida. The outfield’s blue grass was sown in New Jersey above the sand.

The pitches have rendered toss factors to be decisive making conditions for the team that bowls first suitable. TBM batters have been facing issues with variable bounce, where some balls seem to rise more than expected or some keep Short boundaries have also affected the scoring aspect since players are limited in how far they can shoot.

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While the ICC checks data of earlier abandoned games to inform a possible response, the poor pitches have tainted the first New York games as entertainment events to a certain extent till now in this T20 World Cup.