It was shocker of a wicket, not suitable for T20: Hardik

Following his side’s hardfought six-wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20I, India skipper Hardik Pandya said that the game went down the wire and the surface was a “shocker of a wicket”, which is not suitable for the shorter format. Star batter of India Suryakumar Yadav and captain Hardik Pandya held their nerves to guide India to a hard-fought 6-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second T20I encounter here at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday. “I always believed that we will be able to finish the game, but it went quite late. All these games are important with the moments. You do not need to panic because it was about rotating the strike rather than taking the pressure. That’s exactly what we did. We followed our basics,” said Pandya in a post-match presentation. “To be honest, it was a shocker of a wicket. Both the games we have played so far. I do not mind difficult wickets. I am all up for that, but these two wickets are not made for T20. Somewhere down the line the curators or the grounds that we are going to play in should make sure they prepare the pitches earlier.” The skipper admitted that even 120 would have been a winning total for any side on this surface. “Bowlers – they stuck to their plans and ensured they did not rotate the strike. We kept rotating the spinners. Dew did not play much part in this. They were able to spin the ball more than us. It was carrying through well,” concluded Pandya.