India vs Ireland: Batting coach Vikram Rathour not too critical of New York pitch (2024)

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 6, 2024 07:55 IST

India batting coach Vikram Rathour refused to criticise the much-talked-about pitch at the Nassau County Cricket Stadium in New York, saying it was challenging but it is the batters' responsibility to adapt to difficult conditions. The pitch is the newly built 34,000-seater was scrutinised heavily after India and Ireland played out a low-scoring game on Wednesday, June 5.

Ireland were bundled out for 96, their second-lowest total in T20I cricket. India pacers had fun as Arshdeep Singh ran riot with the new ball before Hardik Pandya came in and chipped in with 3 wickets. The pacers enjoyed the uneven bounce on the pitch, but the Ireland batters panicked and threw their wickets as the demons on the surface played on their mind.

T20 World Cup 2024, IND vs IRE: Highlights | Full Scorecard

India had a modest total to chase, but it was no walk in the park as they lost Virat Kohli for 1 in the powerplay. Captain Rohit Sharma swung and missed quite a few times in the first six overs as he found the going tough. Ireland pacers got the ball to swing both ways as Rohit and Rishabh Pant, who walked in at No. 3, did not find it easy.

India got past the finish line in just 12.2 overs, thanks to Rohit Sharma's fifty before he retired hurt after a delivery hit his arm.

Rishabh Pant also copped blows, but remained 36 off 26 balls to guide India in their successful chase.

"It was a challenging wicket and we were expecting a challenging wicket because we played a practice game here. So, we knew what to expect. So, it is what it is. We need to find a way to deal with it and I think we have enough skills in the team and enough experience in the team to deal with it. We should be fine," Vikram Rathour said after India's 8-wicket win.

"As I said earlier, it is a challenging wicket as far as batting is concerned but this is what we have so we need to find ways to deal with it. Like I said earlier, we have enough skills and experience in the batting group especially to deal with that.

"We have enough good batters who can manage to bat well on any kind of surface. I think that has been our strength for many, many years. I think we can adapt really well to different conditions, and I think on this surface you really need to adapt well and take it head-on and not worry about it too much," Rathour added.

T20 World Cup: Full Coverage | Complete Schedule

Quite a few pundits questioned the nature of the pitch with former England captain Michael Vaughan saying that the Nassau County Cricket Stadium was not good enough to host T20 World Cup matches.

However, Vikram Rathour highlighted that the curators might not have had enough time to work on the pitches. Notably, the work for the cricket venue in New York began only in January while drop-in pitches from Adelaide were brought in and used here.

"I am sure it has been challenging for the curators or for ICC to create something here in the past 6-7 months or whatever time they have taken. It was never going to be easy," he added.

Rathour went on to say that the buzz around the T20 World Cup in the USA, which is co-hosting the tournament for the first time, has been good.

"But it is exciting to be at a place like the USA, we can see there's a lot of excitement. We're meeting a lot of people who are really excited because the cricket has come to USA or New York for the first time. So, it's good to be here. And we're looking to play good cricket and give our best basically," he added.

India will next play Pakistan at the same venue in New York on Sunday, June 9.