Hardik Pandya criticises 'shocker of a wicket' as India beat New Zealand in second T20I
Captain Hardik Pandya criticised the pitch, after India collected a six-wicket win over New Zealand in Sunday's second T20I in Lucknow.
Hardik Pandya.New Zealand posted a final total of 99 for eight. India responded with 101 for four to win with one delivery to spare.
Last week, Pandya had also questioned the nature of the Ranchi pitch, which was used for the series opener.
"To be honest, this was a shocker of a wicket," Hardik told Star Sports.
"Two games… the kind of wickets we played on, I don't mind difficult wickets. I'm all up for that but these wickets are not made for T20.
"Somewhere down the line the curator or stadium, whichever we play T20s, they should make sure they should prepare the game previously rather than having couple of games there. Other than that, very happy with the result.
"It wasn't that it was a slow, turning wicket. But actually it was carrying through very well and to be honest, it was a shocker of a wicket. We were just playing the ball and seeing whichever the best opportunity or whichever the best position we can get in and made sure we keep rotating the strike."
Opposition captain Mitchell Santer, who was one of five spinners deployed by New Zealand, echoed Pandya's sentiment.
"I was trying to find spinners from everywhere. I was asking fast bowler Lockie Ferguson if he could bowl some off-spin, but yeah I think you don't often see more than 12 overs of spin out there. I think maybe we bowled 16 or 17, so it's definitely something different," added Santner.
The third and final T20I of the series will be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.