World Cup surface in New York far from pitch perfect

Concerns are growing over the state of the T20 World Cup pitch in New York where Ireland lost to India on Wednesday, with former England coach Andy Flower suggesting conditions at the ground were "bordering on dangerous".

Bringing big matches to the pop-up Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Long Island has been a key part of the International Cricket Council’s bid to break the lucrative American market, but the gambit is off to a rocky start.

With 'drop-in' pitches grown in Florida and transported via truck just a month ago, teething problems are hardly a surprise.

The enterprise has been overseen by Australian Damian Hough, an experienced curator in charge of the Adelaide Oval, but he and his team have fresh issues to iron out ahead of a huge marquee fixture between India and Pakistan on Sunday.

After a low-scoring opening game between South Africa and Sri Lanka served up scores of 77 all out and 80 for four – hardly the kind of explosive hitting promoters would hope for – things got even trickier on Wednesday.

Runs were hard to come by again as Ireland were bowled out for 96 with huge variations in bounce causing havoc for their batters.

India chased their target with plenty of time to spare but only after captain Rohit Sharma retired hurt having taken a blow on the upper arm from a Josh Little delivery that leapt sharply.

Rishabh Pant, Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker were among others to sustain body blows on a difficult track.

Flower, a seasoned coach with experience all over the world, sounded a note of caution about the set-up.

"I’ve got to say that is not a good surface to play international cricket on. It is bordering on dangerous," he told ESPN Cricinfo.

"We saw the ball bouncing from a length both ways,