Hardik Pandya terms Lucknow wicket a ‘shocker’ after India struggle to series-leveling win

India beat New Zealand by six wickets in a low-scoring recreation on the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Batting first after profitable the toss, the Kiwis managed solely 99/8 of their 20 overs as Indian spinners stifled the opponents. Within the chase, India additionally misplaced 4 wickets and wanted 19.5 overs to achieve the goal of 100.

Hitting out after India crawled to a series-leveling victory, Pandya said at the post-match presentation, “To be sincere, it was a shocker of a wicket. Each the video games now we have performed on thus far. I do not thoughts tough wickets. I’m all up for that, however these two wickets usually are not made for T20.”

Giving an recommendation to the curators, he added, “Someplace down the road the curators or the grounds that we’re going to play in ought to be certain that they put together the pitches earlier. Apart from that, completely satisfied. Even 120 would have been a profitable whole.”

Admitting that the sport went too deep, Pandya asserted that he at all times had the idea they’d get residence as they have been doing the fundamentals proper by rotating the strike. The all-rounder commented, “I at all times believed that we’ll have the ability to end the sport, but it surely went fairly late. All these video games are vital with the moments. You need not panic as a result of it was about rotating the strike slightly than taking the stress. That is precisely what we did. We adopted our fundamentals.”

Whereas there was loads of spin on supply, Pandya credited his bowlers for sticking to their plans and never deviating from the fundamentals. He stated, “They caught to their plans and ensured they didn’t rotate the strike. We saved rotating the spinners. Dew did not play a lot half on this. They have been in a position to spin the ball greater than us. It was carrying by properly.”

For India, Kuldeep Yadav and Deepak Hooda each completed with figures of 1/17 every from their 4 overs. Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal additionally claimed one wicket every, whereas Arshdeep Singh helped himself to a few on the finish. Suryakumar Yadav (26* off 31) top-scored for India within the tense chase.

–By A Cricket Correspondent