The huge crowd that gathered at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, expected a high-scoring encounter featuring hits. But the second T20I turned out to be an outrageously low-scoring encounter as New Zealand posted a total of 99 followed by India’s struggle in the run chase. Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was very critical of the pitch as he felt that it was not suitable for T20 cricket.
“If Quinton de Kock sees this pitch, (it is possible that) he might not come to play IPL,” Gambhir said while commentating on Star Sports.
South Africa opener De Kock opens the innings for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the franchise Gambhir mentors. Lucknow is expected to host the franchise’s home matches in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
A total of 179 deliveries were bowled by spinners in the second T20I. This is the highest number of deliveries bowled by spinners in a T20I encounter which includes Test-playing nations. Also, the run rate of 5.02 runs per over is the lowest run rate in a men's T20I clash on Indian soil.
As India managed to chase down the target with just one ball to spare, skipper Hardik Pandya said that it was a “shocker of a wicket”.
"Two games… the kind of wickets we played on, I don't mind difficult wickets. I'm all up for that but these wickets are not made for T20 ... Other than that, very happy (with the result)," Pandya added.
New Zealand all-rounder James Neesham was not happy with the nature of pitch either as he said, "I don't think the New Zealand batsmen were found wanting.”
“I think that was, like GG [Gautam Gambhir] mentioned, a 'sub-standard' surface, I don't think anyone really played the sort of fluent innings through both innings. So, obviously two very high-quality spin-bowling attacks, but when a good number of people turn up at the ground to watch and want to be entertained, it's a bit of shame but the silver lining was it ended up being a bit of a low-scoring thriller.”
