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After his team defeated Ireland by eight wickets on a challenging surface in New York, Rohit Sharma stated that India would get ready for challenging batting conditions when they play Pakistan on Sunday.
“I don’t know what to expect from the pitch to be honest, but we will prepare as if the conditions are going to be like this,” Rohit said after India dismissed Ireland for 96 in New York on Wednesday.
After South Africa and Sri Lanka played a low-scoring match in New York, India selected three fast bowlers, including Hardik Pandya, and two spin-all-rounders, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, in lieu of Kuldeep Yadav, to bolster their batting against Ireland in anticipation of pace-friendly conditions.
“I don’t think we can play four spinners here,” Rohit said with a laugh, having talked up India’s spin strength prior to the tournament. “When we picked the team, we wanted to have that balance. If conditions are there for the seamers, we wanted to have that. As we head into the later part of the tournament, spin will play a part later on.
“Looking at the pitch and conditions, we are open to make changes and do what is required at that point, but today was a four-seamer pitch and we still managed to get two spinners, who are allrounders. It gives us balance heading into the game. It [Pakistan game] is going to be a kind of game where all XI of us need to contribute.”
During India’s pursuit of Ireland, Rohit reached a half-century, but he was forced to retire injured after Josh Little’s short ball struck his arm. Former England coach Andy Flower described the New York surface as “bordering on dangerous” on ESPNcricinfo’s Timeout show.
Playing his first T20 World Cup action since 2021, Jasprit Bumrah was overjoyed to win Player of the action after his 2 for 6 off three overs. He had a back problem that kept him from competing in the 2022 tournament in Australia, so he relished the conditions in New York.
“Coming from India, when you see the ball seaming and doing quite a bit, with good bounce and pace, you’d never complain when there’s help for the bowlers,” Bumrah said. “You have to be proactive in this format, you can’t pre-empt things. You have to adapt to conditions. We played a practice game here [against Bangladesh], realised how the wicket is. We realised the new ball will do a lot, so I was just trying to stick to what is working for you.”