The curator who prepared the pitch at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium during the second T20 International cricket match between India and New Zealand has been removed from his post. The pitch of this match was not as expected and the batsmen had to struggle a lot on it. India may have won the match with one ball to spare but captain Hardik Pandya criticized the pitch, terming it as ‘stunning’. New Zealand, batting first, could only manage 99 for eight, while India also had a lot of trouble chasing the target on a spin-friendly track.
A source in the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) told PTI, “The curator has been removed and will be replaced by Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal, who is a very experienced curator.” We will change things in a month. “He said,” Before the T20 Internationals, a lot of domestic cricket was played on the main wickets and the curator should have left one or two wickets for the international match. The wicket was overused and due to inclement weather there was not enough time to prepare a new wicket.
Agarwal, who in the past prepared wickets in Bangladesh before being dropped in October last year, has been entrusted with the task of fine-tuning the pitch preparation process. The source said that he will work closely with Tapas Chatterjee, the experienced curator of the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI). The deciding T20 International between India and New Zealand will be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Pandya, however, is not happy with the wickets he has been provided during the series so far.
