Lucknow: Twenty20 is always considered to be a batsmen-friendly format but the second Twenty20 International between India and West Indies here on Tuesday is expected to be a low scoring affair, according to a local curator.
“It won’t be a high-scoring game for sure. The pitch has long dead grass on both sides with cracks in between. It will be a slow bouncing wicket and spinners are expected to play a big part from the beginning,” the curator said.
“The pitch is made of soil exported from Odisha’s Bolangir which is famous for its slow nature. Both the teams will find it difficult to score runs and hit big shots with long square boundaries,” he added.
BCCI’s chief curator Daljit Singh was in charge of the wicket here from the beginning and he prepared the pitch with the help of UPCA curators like Ravindra Chauhan, Shiv Kumar and Surendra.
Another curator who worked on the surface said had local soil been used to prepare the pitch, it would have been a run fest on Tuesday. Besides the surface, another important factor which is expected to play spoil sport is dew.
“The outfield is perfect and fast, but dew is definitely going to play a big part. The winter is setting in North India now and dew is going to play a big role from the first ball. So, the ball won’t be racing towards the boundary and the batsmen will have to do a lot of running,” the local curator said.
Lucknow is hosting an international cricket match after 24 long years with the newly-built Ekana Stadium making its debut.
The stadium has a capacity of 50,000 and full house is expected for the match on Tuesday. It has already hosted Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy games, including the day-night tie which happened in 2017/18.
This is the third stadium in Lucknow, with international matches earlier being played in KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium and also the Lucknow University grounds. Stadium has been built keeping the traditional Lucknow architecture in mind, with arched gates to welcome the spectators. The spectators will have a hassle-free view of all the action with the stadium devoid any pillars at all.
Long boundary lines will mean that fours and sixes will have to be earned by the batsmen, with straight boundaries being 65 yards and side boundaries at 87 yards. Nine pitches in total make up the square.
(With PTI Inputs)
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI)