Nagpur:
The track for the opening Super 10 Group 2 encounter in the ICC World Twenty20 here on March 15 is likely to be a batting-friendly wicket, unlike the VCA Stadium pitch that was on offer during the third India-South Africa Test match late last year.
The track at the stadium situated on the Nagpur-Wardha road that was used for the third Test between India and South Africa was given a “poor” rating by the ICC match referee, Jeff Crowe in his report.
India clinched the match by 124 runs inside three days with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin leading the hosts’ charge with a 11-wicket haul, supported well by the left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and leggie Amit Mishra.
The ICC later announced that the stadium has been given an official warning under the ICC’s Pitch Monitoring process following the third Test held in November, 2015.
In reaching the verdict, the ICC agreed with the “poor” rating given to the pitch by New Zealand’s Crowe, the match referee for the Test played from November 25 to 27, who observed that it did not allow a fair contest between bat and the ball.
The finding was made by ICC General Manager Cricket, Geoff Allardice, and ICC chief match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, after watching footage of the match, reviewing the post-match reports from Crowe, and considering the response provided by the BCCI.
But the upcoming India-New Zealand T20 game would see a track which is oriented towards batsmen, VCA sources told PTI today.
“The ICC has given us clear guidelines that the tracks
for the World T20 matches should be batsmen-oriented. We are
strictly following these instructions. These matches are
Twenty20 games and not Tests,” sources said. MORE PTI SSR SSC
SLC accuses ex-selection chief of hurting team moral at WT20
Colombo, Mar 13 (PTI) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) today accused former selection committee chief Kapila Wijegoonawardena of hurting the morale of the national team ahead of their ICC World Twenty20 campaign by making “inaccurate and misleading” statements in the media.
“Mr Wijegoonawardne’s statements are inaccurate, misleading, and defamatory, and furthermore�are of the nature to cause grevious injury to the moral of the Sri Lanka cricket team, currently intent on bringing home the ICC World Twenty 20,” a statement from SLC read.
Wijegoonawardena was fired by the Sports Minister last week and was replaced by former batsman Aravinda de Silva.
In a statement later, Wijegoonawardena accused that he was victim of politics and a selection committee would not be required in future as politicians would be handpicking the team.
He alleged that the decision to remove Lasith Malinga as captain and the team for the ongoing World T20 had been discussed at a team hotel room during the Asia Cup held in Bangladesh.
The current chair of SLC, Tilanga Sumathipala is the deputy speaker of parliament and it has been alleged that he had influenced Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera to sack Wijegoonawardena’s panel of selectors.
SLC said it has appointed a three-member independent panel to review the former selection panel head’s statements
and make recommendations to cricket board on the appropriate disciplinary action to be taken against Wijegoonawardena if
necessary.
