Quality of pitches going to be far better in T20 WC: Kohli ahead of opening match
Oct 23, 2021
Dubai [UAE], October 23 : Ahead of India's opening match, skipper Virat Kohli on Saturday said the quality of wickets in UAE will be far better in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The high octane clash of the Super 12 stage will be played on Sunday between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. It will be after two years that these two teams will battle it out on the cricket field, after having last played in the men's ODI World Cup in 2019.
The India skipper pointed out that the pitches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) were very good and the same will be the case in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
"Looking at the IPL finals, I believe that the quality of pitches definitely is going to be far better in this T20 World Cup. Also, it being an ICC tournament, we know that the standard of pitches has to be maintained to a certain degree which is consistent across all venues," said Kohli in the pre-match press conference as per ICC.
"And I understand that to protect the pitches for a tournament like the World Cup, there had to be some kind of compromising done with the playing conditions when we played the IPL. We all understood that, and the wicket in the IPL finals was very, very good," he added.
Kohli also highlighted that the dew factor will play a major role and the wicket in Sharjah will remain slow and low.
"I think someone asked me about the dew factor, as well, and whether the toss was going to be important. I think the dew factor is becoming prominent as we head into this time of the year in Dubai, and that is also going to help the pitches play much better," said Kohli.
"I presume Abu Dhabi and Dubai are probably going to be the best pitches out of all the venues, and Sharjah more or less will stay true to its true nature, which is slow and low.
"I don't see many high scoring unless dew becomes such a massive factor there, as well, but yeah, wickets will be much better in this tournament," he added.
Pakistan and India first locked horns in the T20 format in the T20 World Cup 2007 in Durban, which India won in Bowl-Out after both the sides ended up on 141 runs each.
