Ex-RCB Star Minces No Words, Slams Ranchi's "Nightmare" Pitch After India's Loss In 2nd T20I

The second T20I between India and West Indies witnessed a run-fest in Ranchi, with the visitors registering a six-wicket win on Friday. After being asked to bat, Shreyas Iyer and Co piled up 249/5 in 20 overs, thanks largely to Sanju Samson's blistering 82 off 41 deliveries. However, the massive total proved insufficient as West Indies captain Shai Hope produced a sensational unbeaten knock of 102 from just 45 balls to steer his team home with nine deliveries remaining.

The game produced a combined total of 501 runs, making it the second-highest match aggregate in T20I history. With bowlers from both teams enduring a torrid outing, former Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketer Shreevats Goswami questioned the nature of the Ranchi pitch.

Speaking on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, Goswami argued that excessively batter-friendly surfaces are unfair to bowlers and can negatively affect their confidence. 

"What do the bowlers do? It's a nightmare for them, and they can easily get dropped. It's what happened with Auqib Nabi, who gave over 80 in one game and got dropped. Anshul Kamboj came in and gave over 80 in nine overs and got dropped. So this can kill a bowler's career. Kuldeep Yadav was looking so threatening in the ODIs. All of a sudden, on a different pitch, he's getting wacked everywhere," said Goswami.

Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke echoed those sentiments, adding that the growing trend of high-scoring contests can be traced back to the IPL.

"We see this in the IPL as well, where some grounds, you don't know how many to get. These players are so talented now that they are disappointed when they hit a four and think they should have hit that for six. It was fine as long as it wasn't happening every game, but now even that seems to be changing. In the IPL, there were a few too many such pitches, especially in Hyderabad," said Clarke.

With this win, West Indies levelled the five-match T20I series against India 1-1. The third T20I match will be played on Sunday in Indore.

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