“This was a shocker of a wicket,” Hardik Pandya slams Lucknow pitch after thrilling win over New Zealand

Surprisingly, no batters other than Suryakumar Yadav from either party could even reach the 20-run mark.

“This was a shocker of a wicket,” Hardik Pandya slams Lucknow pitch after thrilling win over New Zealand

Hardik Pandya slams Lucknow pitch after thrilling win over New Zealand

India’s stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya was critical of the Ekana track in Lucknow, calling it not ideal for T20Is. India somehow won the low-scoring thriller on Sunday against New Zealand to level the series, but it’s the pitch that came into light for its offering big turns throughout the game.

“To be honest, this was a shocker of a wicket,” Hardik told Star Sports at the post-match presentation. “Two games…the kind of wickets we played on, I don’t mind difficult wickets. I’m all up for that because these wickets are not made for T20.”

“Somewhere down the line the curator or stadium, whichever we play T20s, they should make sure they should prepare the game previously rather than having a couple of games there. Other than that, very happy [with the result],” Pandya said. He added that their main mantra was rotating strike to take the pressure off because so much happening on the pitch. He and Suryakumar Yadav stitched an unbeaten 31-run stand to guide India to victory.

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Suryakumar Yadav was the top-scorer with his 26-run knock

Hardik Pandya
Suryakumar Yadav was the top-scorer with his 26-run knock

Bowling first, the Indian spinners restricted the Kiwis to 98/8 in 20 overs. Although the target looked easy, the host also found it difficult to survive. No sixes were smashed in the entire match, despite the presence of a hard-hitter like Suryakumar Yadav.

Three runs were needed in two balls when Suryakumar’s four off the penultimate ball of the innings helped India win by six wickets to level the three-match series 1-1. He received the Player of the Match award for scoring an unbeaten 26 runs from 31 balls. Surprisingly, no batters other than him from either party could even reach the 20-run mark.

Kiwi all-rounder Mitchell Santner top-scored for his team with 19 runs. Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Hooda, and Kuldeep Yadav got one wicket each, while Arshdeep Singh bagged two.

In the previous match in Ranchi, India suffered a 21-run loss. The decider will be on Wednesday (February 1) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India have so far played six T20Is in Ahmedabad, winning four and losing two.

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