Indian player Suryakumar Yadav during a practice session ahead of the T20 Cricket World Cup match between India and Ireland, in New York, Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
PTI Photo
New York: On pitches which made eager ‘net’ bowlers look like demi-gods, India’s finest were made to look like mere mortals. As these events unfolded under the sharp sun of Cantiague Park, they wore infuriation and helplessness on their faces across two optional sessions.
As the five pitches at this recreational facility either spewed anger or played dead, some of the best batters of the format in the world were at a loss for timing.
Even Rohit Sharma, who skipped Tuesday’s session, made his disgust for the surface evident on Monday, ending the session prematurely with plenty of audible muttering.
While the Indian skipper was somewhat discreet about it, Hardik Pandya didn’t waste any time telling batting coach Vikram Rathour that he’d rather take throw downs than take on ‘net’ bowlers on this pitch.
So, as the ‘net’ bowlers in attendance watched on, Pandya edged and ducked Rathour’s sidearm for over fifteen minutes before announcing that he was done with this pitch and that he wasn’t going to risk an injury.
Speaking of injuries, Shivam Dube dodged one by a hair’s breadth.
The pitch was tough enough to get a hang of against medium pacers of the dibbly-dobbly variety so you can imagine the chaos Jasprit Bumrah would wreak.
Having troubled both Virat Kohli and Rohit one delivery after the next, Bumrah took a lengthy water break before returning to have at Dube. Dube had been struggling as it is, but when Bumrah’s bouncer kicked off from an awkward length, the left-hander went pale.
So much so that he nearly walked off before Bumrah told him that he would keep it full going forward. Dube agreed, but the middle of his bat barely got action after that.
Tuesday’s session didn’t see many from the possible playing XI in attendance save for Rishabh Pant and Yashavi Jaiswal working on their timing.
Pant was largely good against all the bowlers and the throw-down specialists in the team, but against a large-unit ‘net’ pacer of Indian origin, he couldn’t get his bearings right. While pace wasn’t the concern, there was something about the young pacer’s awkward shoulder-roll that threw Pant off.
Besides being struck on his protective gear a few times, Pant had to get out of the way of bouncers a couple of times and even ended up getting bowled when looking for an escape shot.
Jaiswal’s short session wasn’t a good look either, but he walked away without getting struck on the body. That seems to be the state of affairs at this practice facility.
Should these conditions prevail at the Nassau Cricket stadium across the next three scheduled games, the Indians could be in for long days and even longer meetings about a way out of this predicament.