Bombarded By Questions On New York Pitch, India Coach Vikram Rathour Makes Stance Clear

For the second time in as many games, a low-scoring match was played in the 2024 T20 World Cup at New York. After Sri Lanka were bowled out for 77 by South Africa, India's bowlers were fearsome and relentless in bundling out Ireland for 96. The nature of the pitch in New York once again became a huge talking point – there was excessive movement and variable bounce kept the batters guessing, though some like India captain Rohit Sharma took blows in a rather comfortable eight-wicket win for the side.

Vikram Rathour, India's batting coach, admitted the pitch at New York for their first Group A game was challenging for the batters, but felt the side is ready to find ways to deal with tough conditions, especially with their next game against Pakistan on June 9 at the same venue.

"It is a challenging wicket as far as batting is concerned but this is what we have so we need to find ways to deal with it. Like I said earlier, we have enough skills and experience in the batting group especially to deal with that. We have enough good batters who can manage to bat well on any kind of surface. I think that has been our strength for many, many years.

"I think we can adapt really well to different conditions, and I think on this surface you really need to adapt well and take it head-on and not worry about it too much and you're right - we have everybody fit, and they're all looking good. They're all batting well; so it's a good space to be as a batting coach,” said Rathour in the post-match press conference.

He explained how India are well-equipped in terms of adaptability on seeing the conditions offered to them. "They have been playing T20 cricket together for a long time. I have always believed that our batting unit is very