BRIDGETOWN (BARBADOS), June 29:
Chris Gayle, the West Indies batting great and T20 World Cup ambassador, attributed the numerous low-scoring games in the USA leg of the tournament to “jet-lagged and tired” pitches.
According to the ICC, drop-in pitches were prepared in Florida since late December, employing proprietary techniques honed over a decade at Adelaide Oval in Australia.
The drop-in pitches prepared for the tournament were transported from Florida to New York in semi-trailer trucks for installation at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, which proved to be one of the most difficult wickets for batting during the tournament.
“It’s been a low-scoring World Cup without a doubt, and the wicket is on the slower side sometime. It’s a batting format… Going to give bowlers edge from time to time, bowlers pretty much in control of T20 World Cup,” Gayle said during a press conference on Friday.
The tournament will conclude with the final between India and South Africa at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
“Barbados has been one of the best for batting, hope batters are going to get some runs tomorrow.
“We want to see better surface but the wicket in States was a bit jet-lagged as well, as we know. It was tired, all that travel from Australia, didn’t get time to recover properly. That’s why we had some low-scoring games,” Gayle added.
The development of the pitches was undertaken by Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions, led by renowned Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough.
The drop-in square – the type used around the world including at Adelaide Oval and Eden Park – was curated in Florida and transported by road to New York via a convoy of more than 20 semi-trailer trucks in April.
The matches in New York took place at a state-of-the-art 34,000-seat modular stadium located at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, east of Manhattan.
The former West Indies captain lauded the ICC for efforts to promote the game in mainland America.
“The ICC did a fantastic job, the trophy tour, did well to promote the game within the US. They have taken the trophy to the football games, baseball games, they have done a very good job from the marketing point of view,” Gayle said.
Coming back to the big-ticket title clash, Gayle said lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah could decide India’s fate against South Africa.
Inaugural edition winners India and first-time finalists South Africa will battle it out at the Kensington Oval in their bid to be crowned the world champions in the game’s shortest format.
“India are going to be so hard to beat. They bat so deep and in Jasprit Bumrah, have a world-class death bowler who can break the hearts of the opponents,” Gayle wrote in a column for the ICC.
“In contrast, I picked South Africa as a dark horse before the tournament began, and it is very special to see them finally reach their first final after so many semi-final upsets.
“Getting over the hump and winning a World Cup is so special and if they can do it, it will create memories that will last a lifetime for the players and the nation.”
The final pits two undefeated teams with India seeking to reclaim the trophy they last won in the 2007 edition, and South Africa seeking to etch their name on a senior World Cup trophy for the first time.
Gayle found it tough to predict a winner.
“It is going to be so hard to call – with two teams who have played clean and aggressive cricket throughout the tournament,” he said.
“We have a final fit for the occasion.” (PTI)
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