ICC promptly diverts Champions Trophy tour away from PoK cities after BCCI’s objections
The original tour schedule included cities like Skardu, Hunza and Muzaffarabad, which fall in the PoK region, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.
Acknowledging that the two pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Ground in New York have been substandard, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said that the process is on to “remedy” the issue for the remaining T20 World Cup games at the venue.
A day after India and Ireland played their group game on an extremely difficult wicket, the ICC said, “the pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium have not played as consistently as we would have all wanted.”
“The world-class grounds team have been working hard since the conclusion of yesterday’s game to remedy the situation and deliver the best possible surfaces for the remaining matches.”
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The ICC has faced widespread criticism and outrage regarding the drop-in pitches in New York for the ongoing T20 World Cup, and their remedial process follows criticism after the first two games at Nassau County Stadium, where both matches – Sri Lanka versus South Africa and India versus Ireland – saw the first-innings totals of less than 100 runs.
Former cricketers Irfan Pathan and Micheal Vaughan categorised the pitch as unsafe and criticised the ICC for allowing international games on such substandard venues.
“Look, we definitely want to promote cricket in America, but this pitch is not safe for players. If we had a pitch like this in India, a match would never be played there again for a very long time. This pitch is definitely not good. I mean, we are talking about the World Cup here, not even a bilateral series,” Pathan said.
Echoing Pathan’s words, Vaughan said, “Trying to sell the game in the States is great .. love it .. but for players to have to play on this sub standard surface in New York is unacceptable .. You work so hard to make it to the WC then have to play on this.”
The poor pitches have also led to speculations that the big-ticket India-Pakistan contest on June 9 could be reduced to a low-scoring farce with the team winning the toss and electing to bat having a considerable advantage.
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