After seeing how flat some of the decks during the Test series in Australia can be, speculation is rife that World Cup pitches would similar. This makes the pitches more conducive to batting. With a variable bounce, it is also expected to be run-feats for teams who are batting-heavy.
A source in the know of things confided in Drcricket7 that the wickets should assist the pacers in the initial part of the tournament and in the later half, the spinners could play a key role.
The official word from the organising committee is that the pitches are ideal sporting tracks, including the ones in Australia and in the co-hosting nation, New Zealand. “The World Cup pitches would be ideal ones for ODI cricket and the governing body of the game is ensuring that matches are played on the best possible wickets,” a source told Drcricket7.
“There will be some days when pacers will have a field day, but towards the business end of the tournament, spinners will play bigger roles in these matches,” the source said. It was also learnt that the pitches would remain more or less the same for the teams batting second. Take for example, a team chasing a 300 plus score. These won’t be difficult pitches to chase those runs on.
Is there any chance of seeing some green top wickets in New Zealand? With a month left for the tournament to begin, it would be tough to predict the nature of wickets in New Zealand. It still remains a suspense. In the past, whenever the Indian team has travelled to New Zealand, there have been difficulties with the pitches there. This time, hopefully, the nature of the New Zealand pitches will grab the headlines for the right reasons, from the Indian perspective!
