Team India played their first game of T20 World Cup 2024 against Ireland at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The Men in Blue led by Rohit Sharma kick-started their journey with a win as they beat Ireland by 8 wickets at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Team IndiaWhile there were plenty of takeaways from India's win, there was one con that made the cricket fraternity talk about more often, which was the New York pitch. Alike the majority of the fans, the former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan was also not a big fan of the pitch in the first place. 

The pitch was quite tough for the batters as they faced too many unpredictable deliveries. Rohit Sharma got hit a couple of times and had to leave the game owing to an injury to his right arm.

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant also took a few hits but managed to stay in and finish the game. For such an important tournament and also for the sole purpose of promoting cricket in the USA, there needs to be better pitches.

Unfortunately, the ones at this venue have been very disappointing so far. While speaking to Star Sports after the conclusion of the India vs Ireland match, Irfan Pathan launched a scathing attack, stating that a pitch like this was in India, then a match would never be played there again for quite a long time. 

"Look, we definitely want to promote cricket in America, but this pitch is not safe for players. If we had a pitch like this in India, a match would never be played there again for a very long time. This pitch is definitely not good. I mean, we are talking about the World Cup here, not even a bilateral series," Pathan told Star Sports.

Team India will take on Pakistan in the highly-anticipated clash at the same venue on June 9, Sunday.