Ahead of Saturday’s warm-up meeting at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, India skipper Rohit Sharma and Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto have taken in the sights of the newly built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium here in the USA.
Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, with seating up to 34,000 people, is scheduled to host eight matches of the marquee tournament, including three games of India. The highly-anticipated India-Pakistan clash, pencilled for June 9, will also be hosted at this venue.
The New York ground will host its first international match in the tournament on June 3 when Sri Lanka lock horns with South Africa.
But prior to the main event, the venue plays host to two Asian heavyweights — India and Bangladesh putting in some final work ahead of their respective campaigns.
Looking around at the stands and peering towards the centre square, India skipper Rohit saluted those who pieced together the bold project and said he can’t wait to feel the atmosphere in the stadium with a decent capacity.
“It looks beautiful. It’s quite an open ground. When we come here and play our first game, I just can’t wait to feel the atmosphere in the stadium,” the India captain was quoted as saying by ICC. “It’s a decent capacity as well. Hopefully, it’s gonna be a good one.”
After hitting the ground in the warm-up fixture, India will play its first group game at the same venue against Ireland on June 5.
“We’re looking to understand the conditions more importantly (before the tournament proper) as we haven’t been here before,” Rohit continued.
“(We will) try and make the most of the conditions, get used to what it’s going to be like on June 5 when we play our first game. It’s just about getting into that rhythm of getting the feel of the ground, pitch and stuff like that.
“People in New York will be very interested in coming and watching the World Cup, with the World Cup happening for the first time here. I’m pretty sure all the fans across the various teams are quite excited and looking forward to this tournament. And also as players can’t wait to get started,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Shanto was floored seeing the stadium in person.
“It’s unbelievable. I think it’s crazy. I mean we all saw on the internet there was nothing (three months ago). Now it looks like a proper stadium and feels great.
“The Eastern grandstand (in particular), I didn’t expect it to be like this. I think it’s almost a proper stadium. The ground itself looks very good. It’s a proper cricket ground,” said Shanto.
“To be very honest I wasn’t expecting anything like this but we all followed on social media how the wicket looks like, how the ground would be, and we are very excited as to what is going to happen here. It feels very good and looks crazy to me,” he concluded.
Coming off a scratchy series defeat to the USA, Shanto’s side will be desperate to put the pieces of a winning plan together, while it’s a vital, sole warm-up hitout for the Indian team yearning to lift the second T20 World Cup trophy.