Batsmen's delight? World T20 hosting venues given guidelines to prepare batting tracks

Nagpur: The track for the opening Super 10 Group 2 encounter in the ICC World Twenty 20 here on 15 March 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. [caption id=“attachment_2544980” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Getty Images[/caption] 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 Twenty 20 games and not Tests,” sources said. . Ranjan Madugalle will be the match referee for the India-New Zealand game while the umpires appointed for it are Richard Illingworth, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus and Nigel Llong. “The centre square will be used for the game,” the sources said while adding that although it had rained last evening during the match between Scotland and Hong Kong, the forecast for Tuesday was for a rain-free evening. All the tickets for the match in the 44,900-capacity stadium have been sold out, VCA sources said, adding that those who were lucky in the on-line lottery for Tuesday’s game were being handed over their tickets today and tomorrow at the VCA’s old stadium in the centre of the Orange City. Ticket prices have been kept in the range of Rs 500 to Rs 7,500 for most of the stands barring seats in the hospitality box costing Rs 12,500 for viewing the matches from over the sight-screen, along with enjoying other facilities, the sources said. “In addition we have 35 15-seater corporate boxes each costing Rs 5 lakh for the game,” they added. India defeated Sri Lanka by 25 runs in 2009 in the only T20 game they have played here previously. That was the lone T20 hosted at this ground before the current World T20 event in which it has already hosted six first round men’s games and, apart from the India-New Zealand match, is also set to host two other men’s Super 10 clashes, along with two women’s group matches. PTI