Lucknow's Ekana Stadium Pitch Curator Sacked: UPCA sources said that the pitch curator at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium has been sacked. The team management had ordered the curator to change the pitch 11 hours before the second T20 match between India and New Zealand.
India vs New Zealand 2ND T20I: Indian openers Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tripathi running between the wickets to score during the 2nd T20 International Cricket Match between India and New Zealand on Sunday 29 January 2023
Team India's Last Minute Request Resulted In 'Shocker' Pitch: According to sources in the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), the pitch curator of the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow has been sacked. . In the second match of the T20 series against New Zealand on Sunday, India achieved the target of 100 runs with one ball remaining. Not a single six was hit in that match which lasted 239 balls.
In the presentation after the match, Indian captain Hardik Pandya got angry about the pitch. Hardik Pandya had said, 'These two wickets are not made for T20. Somewhere the curator or the ground where we are going to play should ensure that they prepare the pitches first.
According to sources, the curator had already prepared two pitches of black soil for the game. However, three days before the match, at the last-minute request of the team management, the curators were asked to replace black with a new pitch made of red clay. The new pitch could not be prepared properly at such short notice.
The pitch curation came under heavy criticism after Sunday's match when even Team India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey agreed with Hardik Pandya. Paras Mhambrey had said, 'The curator is the right person to answer that question (on the pitch). There was some grass in the middle, but no grass at either end. When we came yesterday it looked like it would take a turn and we felt it would be challenging.
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir termed it as a 'substandard wicket'. Gwalior's Sanjeev Agarwal has now been appointed as the pitch curator at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium, to get it ready ahead of the return of home and away fixtures in the IPL in March 2023.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya's team has reached the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to take on New Zealand in the series decider. It remains to be seen whether Prithvi Shaw features in the playing XI for the last T20 match before the start of IPL 2023.
Prithvi Shaw scored a triple century in the Ranji Trophy this month. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul, apart from Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan, Rahul Tripathi is also expected to give India a better start. has failed. The trio has scored a combined total of 54 runs in two matches.
Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal will prepare the pitch with Tapas Chatterjee
News agency PTI quoted sources as saying, “The curator has been removed. He will be replaced by Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal who is a very experienced curator. We will turn things around in a month. A lot of domestic cricket had already been played on the main wickets before the T20 Internationals. The curator should have left one or two wickets for an international match. The wicket was overused and due to bad weather, there was not enough time to prepare a new wicket.
Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal, who prepared wickets in Bangladesh in the past before being dropped in October last year, has been entrusted with the task of fine-tuning the pitch preparation process. Sources said that Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal will work closely with Tapas Chatterjee, the experienced curator of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
