Srinagar: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed that the pitch installation at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, which will host the most-anticipated match of the 2024 T20 World Cup between India and Pakistan on June 9, is underway.
A total of 10 pitches arrived in New York and the work of installation has already commenced. Four of those pitches will be installed in the middle of the stadium and the work will be overseen by Adelaide Oval Head Curator Damian Hough. The remaining six pitches will be installed at the practice facilities nearby.
The under-construction stadium will host eight matches in the World Cup, the first one will be between the 2014 T20 World Cup winners Sri Lanka and South Africa. More than 34,000 fans would be able to sit inside the stadium.
“We couldn’t be happier,” Hough said. “Everything is going to plan, they (the pitches) are in real good condition and all of our benchmarks and measures that we take along the way are exceeding expectations.”
Hough stated that the pitches in New York will provide a balance between bat and ball as bowlers will get a good pace and bounce while the batters would be able to play shots all over the ground.
“We hope we have got a good T20 pitch, that has good pace, good bounce and (provides) value for shots,” Hough said.
“You want the batters to be able to play shots all over the ground so that is our design and at the start, our ambition was to produce pitches along those lines.”
Meanwhile 20 qualifying teams are divided into four groups of five, from which the top two teams of every group will make their way to the Super 8 round. In that stage, qualifying teams will once again be divided into two groups of four, from which the top two teams will make their way to the semi-final and then the winners will play the final.