The Lucknow wicket was a “shocker,” according to India’s skipper Hardik Pandya, even though his team won the game on Sunday with one ball remaining, know about the new pitch curator Sanjeev Agarwal
In order to prepare for the second T20 International match against New Zealand, the curator of Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium created a “shocker of a surface,” for which he was sacked. India’s skipper Hardik Pandya called the Lucknow wicket a “shocker” even though his team won the game on Sunday with one ball remaining.
Know who is Sanjeev Agarwal new BCCI Lucknow cricket pitch curator ahead of IPL 2023
India struggled to chase the tiny mark on a wavy track as New Zealand was limited to 99 for eight.
Official statement from the UPCA
The UPCA confirms that the pitch curator was fired and Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal from Guwahati, a very skilled curator, took his position. Moreover, they have assured to improve everything within a month.
“Before the T20I, all of the centre wickets had seen a significant amount of domestic cricket play; the curator should have saved one or two strips for an international match. Due to the bad weather and the overworked pitch, there was not enough time to construct a new wicket,” a UPCA source told PTI.
The task of fixing the pitch-building situation has been assigned to Agarwal, who previously built pitches in Bangladesh before being sacked in October of last year. He would work closely with veteran BCCI curator Taposh Chatterjee, the source claims.
The series decider is to be played today.
The visitors have not triumphed in a bilateral series of any kind in India, except a single T20I in 2012. It’s time for one final push since it takes a lot of work for an outside team to win a series here.
India has defended their position with laughably constant vigilance. They have played a total of 55 bilateral series in various forms during the past ten years, winning 47 of them. India has only been defeated in India by Australia in 2019 and South Africa in 2015. Today, Ahmedabad is set to host the final T20I of the series. It remains to be seen who takes it home.