The pitch on which the first World Twenty20 semi-final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was played has become a matter of debate here. Following former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram’s criticism of the pitch, the International Cricket Council has now reacted to the matter.
Dave Richardson, the Chief Executive Officer, when asked about the wicket, said; “The pitch used in the first semi-final wasn’t an ideal wicket for the Twenty20 format as there was too much assistance to spinners. Ideally, we need to ensure that a pitch doesn’t change its condition from one innings to the next.”
He added: “There was advantage for both teams and the Sri Lankan spinners took better advantage of the situation. I spoke to the curator and he said that wicket was too dry for his liking. You have to accept that in this climate, where it is so hot, to prepare a wicket is incredibly difficult.” Incidentally, Sri Lanka is witnessing the hottest weather in three decades at this time of the year. Temperatures have risen to above 40 degrees Celsius during the day. When Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene was told about Akram’s criticism, he said: “The ICC controls the wickets, not Sri Lanka Cricket. They schedule the strips, the matches on each pitch. So I don’t know what he’s talking about. If you think it was heavily loaded, then they [Pakistan] have three of the best spinners going around in world cricket. So if you think we’ve prepared a wicket suited for our spinners, that is very wrong. When you have that quality of spinners, why would you want one to suit them? I had just two spinners. It was an even contest.”
Hahaha, And the same Happened in the Final, where they prepared the same kind of Pitch and had a taste of their own medicine 😀
Come on, be spoken about your tactics, when they can change their captain they can apply such tactics and we saw the same situation in the final too, where they scrambled and lost the match by a margin of 36 runs.
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