ICC Breaks Silence On New York And Tarouba Pitches Used In T20 World Cup 2024, Assigns Ratings

T20 World Cup 2024: The International Cricket Council (ICC) assigned partial hosting rights of the World T20 to New York to ensure the global development of the game. America, right now is at the forefront of world sports with the FIFA World Cup to take place in 2026 and Olympic to be hosted by Los Angeles (LA) in 2028. Alongside America, West Indies were also the hosts of the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

The United States of America was an unchartered territory for many teams. With teams complaining about the lack of proper infrastructure to the pitches playing poorly, the ICC was under the scanner and many said that the apex global cricketing body could've made better arrangements.

ICC Rates New York and Tarouba Pitches

It took ICC almost two months to assign ratings to New York and Tarouba pitches. Many fans and experts questioned the ICC's stand and their prolonged silence on the matter, but the ICC continued to remain tight-lipped. The ICC has now rated the pitches used for first two games at New York's Nassau County Stadium and the surface used for the semi-final between Afghanistan and South Africa as unsatisfactory.

ALSO READ | ‘Shpageeza Cricket League gives opportunity to Afghans to watch their heroes’: Hashmatullah Shahidi

In the initial two games of the contest, South Africa had bowled Sri Lanka out for 77 and India had bundled Ireland out for 96 odd runs. The surface used for the India vs Ireland game looked borderline dangerous with Indian players taking some body blows. India's then T20 skipper Rohit Sharma had to retire hurt after a delivery from Josh Little hit him.

ALSO READ | ‘I Am One of the Best’: Emerging Indian Cricketer Challenges BCCI Selectors, Says ‘Put Me in a Test'

ICC Acknowledges Substandard Surfaces

The ICC was straightaway called out after the below par show by the New York and Tarouba surfaces. Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram also expressed his shock over the pitches while calling the India vs Pakistan game. Adelaide Oval's chief curator Damian Hough was brought in to prepare the drop-in pitches. Seeing the criticism mount with every game, the ICC acknowledged that the pitches that the pitches had been substandard.