NEW DELHI: The T20 World Cup's opening match between South Africa and Sri Lanka took place at the Nassau Stadium in New York, where the pitch conditions were far from ideal. Both team captains expressed their dissatisfaction with the surface.
Sri Lanka's batting performance was abysmal, as they were bowled out for a meager 77 runs, their lowest total in T20 cricket history. South Africa, despite the low target, had to work hard for their victory, eventually reaching the target with six wickets in hand and 3.4 overs to spare.
The criticism from the captains highlighted the importance of providing suitable playing conditions for such a high-profile tournament. The drop-in pitch at the Nassau Stadium clearly failed to meet the expectations of the players and the cricketing community.
"The batting was a little up and down... quite a tough wicket but we found some way to score runs. It's a tough one from a batting perspective," said SA skipper Aiden Markram at the post-match presentation.
"You try to take the pitch out of it, but if the ball misbehaves or there's low bounce, it's just one of those things and hopefully we can take some learnings out of it," added the skipper, who scored 12 runs.
The South African captain mentioned that playing on the pitch would provide his side with some advantage ahead of their upcoming games.
"Obviously fortunate that we have our next two games here, so we know what to expect. But important to assess as you move around."
Sri Lankan skipper Wanindu Hasaranga remarked that the pitch was not conducive to high-scoring matches.
"Our batters were looking at 160-170. To be honest this a 120 wicket, especially with our bowlers.
"We went with our bowling strength, that's why we batted first. We wanted to put up a good score and defend it. This is early in the tournament, as a team we wanted to do much better especially in the batting. We know we have bowling strength, so if our batters do well we can go further," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
