India’s head coach Rahul Dravid reveals the tough time the sandy grounds gave the team in the warm-up game against Bangladesh on Saturday at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
Dravid suspected injury concerns while talking to the BCCI after the match saying that the players could feel the after affects on their hamstrings and calves.
"The ground is a little bit soft. So I think the guys will feel that a little bit tomorrow on the hamstring and calves, so it is an area we have to ensure we are working around and ensure that the guys are looking after themselves because it does feel a little bit heavy underneath," he said.
“Little bit spongy at times but I thought we coped really well. I thought we managed that really well. We batted and put what we thought was an above par score on that wicket. Then came out and bowled really well," he added
Despite the soft ground, team India had posted a total of 182/5 and Bangladesh fell 61 runs short to win the match.
Hardik Pandya, who had been in poor form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 struck a blistering knock of 40 off 23 deliveries.
It should be noted that India will play three of their four group matches at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, the same venue where they played Bangladesh in the warm-up game.
They will play against Ireland on June 5, Pakistan on June 9 and USA on June 12 at the venue in New York.
By the time India plays Pakistan for the group match, they will have played two games on the ground which gives them a lot of opportunity to understand the ground and pitches better than Pakistan and will give them an upper hand in the game.
Squad of India:
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
Schedule of India:
India vs Ireland - June 5 (New York)
India vs Pakistan - June 9 (New York)
India vs USA - June 12 (New York)
India vs Canada - June 15 (Lauderhill)
- Rahul Dravid
